9.3.- Present state of the crisis?

As it has happened in other occasions, a health problem acquires an out of proportion importance due to the economical and marketing interests and the alarmist performance of press.

Olive-pomace oil was withdrawn from the market on 3rd July. The following day Public Health General Manager (Dolores Flores) and the Food Safety Deputy Director (Ignacio Arranz) called us, as members of the Consumers and Users Board, in order to inform us about the reasons of the measure. From CECU we consider that the government performance was right and positive as well as the promptness with consumers were informed.

On 11th July, we took part on the meeting of the Interministerial Commission for the Food Organisation where the project of Ministerial Order, establishing the limits of some polyciclical aromatic hydrocarbons in olive-pomace oils.

Later, and with the consensus of all sectors, the Ministerial Order was passed. The aforementioned Order, establishes the maximum limit for the benzopireno in 2 micrograms per kg of product and 5 micrograms for the whole aromatic polyciclic hidrocarbons which olive-pomace oil can contain.

On 14th September olive-pomace oil was marketed again. According to the Minister of Agriculture, Mr Arias Cañete: once the regulation has been established producers have been able to fulfil it.

    10.- Conclusion

Nowadays we find in the market the same products than before the crisis but we have gone one step forward in alimentary safety. Consumers, despite being reluctant at the beginning, can now be safer.

The crisis caused by pomace oil last July has not had negative effects on olive oil. Although at first there were several countries which eliminated Spanish olive oil from their markets, and even in Spain there was a decrease in the demand, finally the pomace oil crisis has even turned into positive results for olive oil. Pomace oil demand (around 6,000 tonnes per month in the domestic market) was partially deviated to the olive oil.

According to the data handled by the administration, during the first nine months of campaign 775,600 tones of olive oil have been marketed, a 16.6% more than in the same period, during the previous campaign, which means an average of 86,000 tones per month. 40,000 tones out of this figure correspond to exportations.

An important datum which is highlighted in administration, is the strong growth in sales of virgin olive oil, although their volumes are still low. From the total olive oil consumed in Spain, only 20% is virgin meanwhile 8% remaining is olive oil.

The expected production for the next campaign will raise up to about a million tones. This will provoke, as it happened this year, to lower the financial help of 220 pesetas/kilo to around 155 pesetas. When reaching 760,027 tones.

This data confirm that the consumer did not know much about olive oil before the crisis. Until that moment people used to confuse olive-pomace oil and olive oil, although extra virgin olive oil was supposed to have a better quality. After the crisis the consumer is better informed. But it is not enough. We demand more information so that the campaigns are as helpful as possible.

To this respect, CECU this the aim of informing to the consumers, sent a letter to their associated in the different Autonomous Regions to explain what has happened and to clarify the concepts, always trying to promote the consumption of olive oil, and especially extra virgin olive oil.

With this aim, we update our web-site about alimentary safety, explaining the elaboration processes of the different olive oils and the differences among them.

All in all, consumers are the aim of all the food and agriculture industry and our exigencies must be considered not only as buyers of different products, but also as receptors of the benefits or prejudices that the consumption of that product may provide, for us and our environment.

That is to say, consumers demand that the productive and commercial strategies of olive oil consider us from the beginning of the food chain and not at the end as they have done until this moment.

Nowadays, consumers are not mere buyers. The great variety of food oils, that we can find in the market, make our election to depend not only on cooking and nutritive needs of that food, but also on health and quality guaranties, such as the nutrient contribution, cooking tradition, organoleptic features and advantages in the use, that along with a more tight price, offer the different brands for the same product.

Normally, all consumers know, o should know, that our society offers a series of guaranties gathered in our legal code:

In the frame of the Spanish Constitution, article 51, states that the public powers guarantee the defence of Consumers and Users, protecting, by means of efficient processes, their safety, health and legitimate economic interests. In section 2 in this article it states that information and education will be provided for consumers and users and it will support their organisations.

This guarantee is developed in the General Law for the Defence of Consumers and Users (Law 26/1984, 19th July). In its article II, about the protection of health and security, states that products, activities and services presented in the market for the consumers will not imply any risk for their health or safety.

On the other hand, the Royal Decree 1945/83, by which infractions and sanctions in the area of consumers defence and food and agricultural production are regulated, implies a consideration of the present technical, economic and social conditions which surround products and services provided for consumers and users and which demand a clear delimitation of obligations and responsibilities to avoid individual or collective defencelessness before fraud, adulteration, abuse or negligence.

This RD is almost abolished, but the initial spirit prevails in the defence of consumers.

Likewise, the Spanish Food Code (Decree 2484/1967, 21st September) and the Technical and sanitary Regulations and Quality regulations of food products guarantee the specific aspects that this law offers, relating to food safety.

Olive oil, like most food, have their own European regulation (Regulation 2472/97) and Spanish (RTS of eatable vegetable oils, RD 308/1983, 25 January and its modifications, establishing the regulations for obtaining, elaboration, industrialisation and commercialisation of eatable oils with vegetal origin apart form other legal requirements).

All this normative frame, along with many other specific regulations relating to quality, hygiene, labelling, inspection, self-control, etc., is due to the spirit of safety that prevails in the European Union and which is recently being reinforced with the publication of the white book of Alimentary Safety and by the creation of the European Authority of Alimentary Safety, which once again is reflected in the creation of the Spanish Alimentary Agency.

But despite this, the consumer is now sceptic in part as a result of the growing globalisation of markets that he does not control, and also due to the disordered information that he receives. Another reason is because the recent crisis have made that the information he receives is precisely that which has not worked in the safety mechanisms.

Despite this, consumers are aware that “0 risk” does not exist and that nowadays we enjoy good safety levels in our products.

In Spain, consumers have an advantage relating to food: the Mediterranean Diet, whose main representative is the Olive Oil.

From some years now, the Mediterranean diet stopped being fashionable, trend to which consumers are susceptible. Even the use of different oils, other than olive, was advised as a paradigm of health. Fortunately, during the last years it has been clearly stated that olive oil is essential for our diet, and that its substitutes do not have the same properties and virtues.

The Spanish consumer prefer olive oil for house use mainly because he knows that it is the best one that he can consume and because he is not willing to change his healthy habits. But to be able to consume this product, we need to feel safe and that is why we submit our demands to the administrations, producers and dealers.

Consumers demands to olive oil producers.

That is why, consumers are more and more exigent in our demands. We demand safety, quality, information, transparency, training and price.

Ø Safety

The normative frame that we have referred to, where administrative controls and obligatory self-control in industries are reflected, along with the policies of integral quality in the companies, must guarantee safety for all olive oil, which is marketed. But we know that this does not always work as it should:

· We sense that the administration does not develop all the necessary controls to detect frauds. For example: The agricultural authorities in the control of pesticides; sanitary authorities in the control of elaboration in olive-oil mills, commercialisation, labelling...

· Companies outweigh the economic and technologic interests, in some cases even over the safety and nutritional values. For example: mixing of oils, use of low quality oils in restaurants...

· Alimentary technology, which advances quickly, does not disclose the damaging effects for consumers health. Ex. The refining treatments, the excessive heating that might produce toxic elements such as benzopirenes

 

Of course, we know that there are companies that offer all the demandable guarantees protected by a quality brand.

Ø Quality

Nowadays, the concept of “quality” is understood as the degree of satisfaction showed by the consumer, that is to say, the capability to respond to the demands, either explicit or implicit, of the consumer towards a product. But this concept has different aspects. It is necessary to take into account the hygienic quality, technological quality, nutritional quality, organoleptic quality, the care for the environment and even the price.

Olive oil producers have already established integral quality systems in their companies. In these systems is included the hygienic quality represented by the self-control systems based on the APPCC imposed by the administrations. But also they are certifying in quality systems based in international ISO, EN (European) and UNE (Spanish), and accrediting through well known accrediting bodies.

The most exigent protect their brands and ways of elaborating through guarantee of quality: DOP, IGP, ETG, Ecological Agriculture...

The consumer wants to know all these quality measures and also to which are the brands that offer them and those which do not. And which price is to be paid for that.

Ø Information

The more information consumers have the more they want. We demand safety, but we also demand to feel safe, and so we need to have objective and truthful information.

Now we know that if our life expectancy is higher than that in other countries around us is in a great part due to our diet and to the consumption of olive oil.

Well, we know this, but, is the same all the olive oil that we find in the market? Has it the same preventive properties that we know? The answer is NO. But this is what the consumer mistakes.

So the first demand of the consumers is information to be able to choose freely that which is better for us.

For example, in general, we do not know, that extra virgin olive oil is the one which joins all the excellence of this product. That the so called “olive oil” suffers a process of refining, which reduces the properties or that other oils coming also from olives (such as that of pomace olive oil) have not anything to do with virgin olive oil.

It is also very common the error of thinking that an oil with a higher grading is better or more pure that the one with a lower grading.

That is why, we ask the producers to give information by means of clear and transparent publicity campaigns.

Regarding to labelling, we have observed that in general it is correct in the oils that we find in the market. But not in products containing fats or oils in their composition. For example the mention of “vegetable fats” without specifying which type of fat is it, because it might have a vegetal origin such as coconut, palm or palm leaf and however they do not count on the features in unsaturated oily acids and their benefits, although we might think so.

Ø Transparency

Transparency is a demand directed in one hand to the administration and on the other hand to the producers.

To the administration we demand transparency in the crisis that affect food, in quality researches and in the results of the controls. That the quality data recognised by the administration in companies, are public.

To the producers we demand responsibility and quality.

Ø Training

Nowadays, society claims for training in the wide sense. Sanitary and alimentary training is also necessary. Form children at school, housewives, old people, the different collectives (affected by chronicle diseases, sportsmen, workers...). It is necessary education in healthy habits of life and specially in nutritive and technological values of our food. So that when the information that we demand arrive, it arrives in an already prepared field.

To this purpose, it might be interesting to intensify the information campaigns about olive oil, as we are trying to promote one of he most healthy and delicious tradition of our culture and at the same time we impulse our products...

To this respect, form CECU we are aware, that the Consumer Associations have a an important role in society. From this point of view, we are critical and active elements in training, information, denunciation and demand of satisfaction of the consumers.

This is why we ant to transmit the necessity that our voice is listened by all the implied sectors in the alimentary chain, because we should not forget that: We are all consumers

Consumers and users confederation (CECU)