Speak out on olive oil ban

By Martin Kirby

The simple, wonderful fruit of the olive6b Have you ever bought premium olive oil on tap? In five weeks, from December 13, you won’t be able to any more. Please - everyone in the UK who loves premium extra virgin olive oil and has enjoyed the quality, value, ease and more environmentally-friendly way of buying this remarkable fruit juice on tap from a fine food specialist shop, please add your voice. PLEASE SHARE THIS so that everyone knows that the Government is banning the sale of "on tap" olive oil from December 13. Not all oils, you understand not even infused olive oil, just olive oil. Not only is the ban unjustified and ill-conceived, it is also discriminatory, punitive and unfair. All on-tap oils are susceptible to the same potential health and fraud issues yet the EU and DeFRA are just singling out and banning the extraordinarily healthy and delicious fruit juice the world knows as olive oil. Customers go to fine food outlets they know and trust and use olive oil from producers like us who they know and trust. How is that different to any other food if everything is properly labelled and detailed in a way people can clearly understand and trust? We have to lobby the British Government and the EU to make them see how wrong this discriminatory ban is. With your help we will try and do so. Tiny as we are. To put this as simply as possible... We very much welcome new stricter rules regarding labelling as the EU seeks to counter food fraud. There has to be full provenance on all foods and far more clarity. We at Mother’s Garden give more information than is required, including the pressing and bottling dates (vital yet still rare information). BUT, based upon a 10-year- old ruling by the European Court, the UK Government says it must now comply with a ban on “tap” sales of olive oil. This includes bag in box. Part of our business is supplying our premium olive oil in bag in box to health food stores and delis and farm shops and, hence, on to thousands of customers nationwide. We contest that the clean, simple bag in box method is the best way to preserve the olive oil from light and air contamination. A bag in box cannot be refilled and resealed, and it gives both customers and small businesses a wonderful way to source the best olive oil at sensible cost. Less weight, less transport impact, less waste, better quality, lower cost. Everyone sees the sense and value of this, the goodness and health benefits. Look at it this way. Under this ludicrous new rule the following applies... UNLAWFUL – our olives are picked and pressed in the village cooperative mill, then the bag in box is filled at the mill and sent to fine food outlets via our family’s UK farm, fully labelled. The age of the oil is also clearly defined. LAWFUL – olive oil from a host of different locations and countries is taken in tankers by major corporations, mostly to Italy, where it is stored and blended, then bottled and shipped to a distributor and on to stores in the UK. The age of the olive oil is not defined. We do not say other ways of supplying olive oil should be banned, of course not. But why regulate against the simplest and most efficient way of bringing this essential food at a sensible cost to the British public? It is NOT a luxury, and premium olive oil should be affordable and at the heart of every meal. So we ask – what is wrong with the fully labelled, non-refillable bag in box method, also used for soft drinks and wine? And how can any government or court justify such discrimination against one food product, one oil? So, please share and help us spread the word.

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