New legislation in Greece that was introduced back in August enables a quality mark that will distinguish Greek olive products in foreign markets.
The mark is awarded by the Elgo-Dimitra organisation, a body that has been charged with promoting agricultural research and education, with the approval of the General Chemical State Laboratory of Greece.
Seven companies in Greece that produce table olives and extra virgin and virgin olive oil were the first in the country to display the mark that resembles a Greek flag on their labeling last week, Olive Oil Times reported.
The mark also includes the prerequisites the products must fulfill, initially requiring that a vertically integrated production process takes place exclusively in Greece. That includes everything everything from growing the fruit, processing and packaging to exporting the final product.
“The safe road for Greek agricultural products in a highly competitive global market is to be clearly recognised worldwide by using the symbol,” said Vassilis Kokkalis, Deputy Minister of Agriculture, extending an open invitation to companies in the olive oil industry to fulfill the requirements and earn the mark.
“It will help consumers easily discern Greek quality olive oil on the supermarket shelves,” said Emmanouil Karpadakis of Terra Creta, one of the larger producers of Crete, adding that he expects the Greek Mark to “help us communicate the quality of our products in international markets”.
“It will help consumers easily discern Greek quality olive oil on the supermarket shelves from mixtures of olive oil from other countries and of ambiguous quality,” Karpadakis continued.
“We currently send our products to 42 markets all over the world, but we expect that the mark will draw more attention in European countries and in the U.S. than in China or African markets.”