ldquoQuality adds economic value to olive oil and table olivesrdquo this was the topic of the conference held yesterday by the Society of Olive and Olive Oil Products of Certified Quality EL3P The Conference Room of the Agricultural University of Athens AUA, where the event was held, was packed with people and the event lasted until late in the evening
Professor Epaminondas Paplomatas photo, left, Deputy Dean of the University, during his opening speech, reaffirmed AUArsquos outward orientation and openness that will help the University become a center of research and knowledge Pomology professor Stavros Vemmos nbspphoto, right, during his speech on olive growing and its prospects, announced the creation of the AUArsquos Olive Laboratory
The main speaker, Mrs Alexandra Devarenne, co-founder of the Extra Virgin Alliance EVA made a very detailed presentation of the situation in the US and the world olive oil market and consumersrsquo preferences She also spoke about the stable growth of authentic extra virgin olive oil
Professor of Microbiology and Biotechnology of Foods, Efstathios Panagou, spoke about table olives His presentation was focused on sensory evaluation of table olives, an important ldquotoolrdquo that helps evaluate and protect the quality of table olives
Three vertically integrated companies production/ processing/ standardization took the floor Fotis Sousalis Terra Creta, Chania, left, Dimitris Polimenakos Maxouli, Gytheio ndash Laconia right and Kostas Protoulis Plomari, Lesvos, center gave presentations of their companies They also mentioned the various problems they face, due to unfair competition high quality and high value products are extremely sensitive to it, but also due to the general negative situation rural economy is facing
Aris Kefalogiannis, vice president of El3P and Managing Director of GAEA, also added that Greece has entered a vicious cycle that is threatening the Olive sector and can lead to its disappearance, similar to the case of other ldquonational products of Greecerdquo like raisins and tobacco
The event was coordinated by Vasilis Zambounis, founder and director of El3P and ended with a QampA session, where the audience took the floor The interaction with the audience proved that there is great interest for this kind of public events and how useful they are
The Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Mr Tsironis, was represented by Mrs Lymperopoulou, who also intervened on the issue of olive mills#39 waste / byproducts, while Mrs Dimitra Aliefs, SOVENA GROUP, photo made a realistic assessment of Greek olive oilrsquos position on the world map and spoke on the growing buyersrsquo demands for safe and high quality olive oil
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