EU bans dipping olive oil in restaurants
Discussion
djstevec said:
The bottle contents are controlled, (and hopefully tested), what a restaurant pours into an open bowl in the kitchen isn't. Whats the big deal about being brought a fresh bottle, that's poured in front of you at your table. Jeez.
What's to stop the restaurant buying one bottle of 'nice, sealed' oil and just decanting all the 'crap' stuff they used before into to, then pouring it into a dish on your table. Surely they won't have to use 20ml of a new, sealed bottle every time to prove that there's no tampering going on? FFS.djstevec said:
The bottle contents are controlled, (and hopefully tested), what a restaurant pours into an open bowl in the kitchen isn't. Whats the big deal about being brought a fresh bottle, that's poured in front of you at your table. Jeez.
They'll just 'crack the lid' (wink, wink) much like countries have been doing with 'bottled' tap water. Where there's money to be made by fraud, they'll just get more inventive at making the product appear legit.As with pretty much every rule and regulation, the only people who will suffer are the legitimate businesses and suppliers. Any fraud will continue unabated unfortunately. In fact, the irony of this may well be to make it easier for fraud to occur as people will assume that anything delivered in a bottle is genuine/legit.
Funk said:
djstevec said:
The bottle contents are controlled, (and hopefully tested), what a restaurant pours into an open bowl in the kitchen isn't. Whats the big deal about being brought a fresh bottle, that's poured in front of you at your table. Jeez.
They'll just 'crack the lid' (wink, wink) much like countries have been doing with 'bottled' tap water. Where there's money to be made by fraud, they'll just get more inventive at making the product appear legit.As with pretty much every rule and regulation, the only people who will suffer are the legitimate businesses and suppliers. Any fraud will continue unabated unfortunately. In fact, the irony of this may well be to make it easier for fraud to occur as people will assume that anything delivered in a bottle is genuine/legit.
Peckham Springs
Ok ok silly me...you're all correct. Its utterly pointless having regs or even trying to enforce them cuz there's always a way around them, at least that way we all know we can never have any reassurance or possibility of actually getting what I pay for and therefore we'll never be upset or pissed when we're ripped off.
On the plus side, NZ all out for 207.
On the plus side, NZ all out for 207.
Melman Giraffe said:
djstevec said:
On the plus side, NZ all out for 207.
Wooooooo HooooooooThank god for that.
Could we eek out a win rather than a draw I wonder?
I agree with Hawk, if this ruling comes in then the crooks will just sell dodgy oil in legitimate bottles. This won't do anything except harm the small local producers, an EU law will never stop corruption. Crooks will carry on as they always do ie Italian tomato producers importing from Chile but labelling as Italian or adding sugar when making wine to increase the alcohol content.
djstevec said:
I guess no one has bothered to look about how much diluting, re-labelling of cheap imports or just plain fraud in the olive oil industry there is?
Do you want pure olive oil or some cheapo substitute whilst paying full price? You get a fresh bottle, a dish to pour it into, big deal.
"..As worldwide demand grows, olive oil fraud has become rampant. Well-known Italian olive oil producers have been found guilty of importing lesser-quality olive oil from North Africa and elsewhere, relabelling and pricing it as a high-quality extra-virgin Italian product."
“Olive oil is a commodity that can easily be diluted or substituted with cheaper oil,” wrote Marilyn Taylor, a spokesman for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency in a bulletin from the agency last July. “The presence of other oils in olive oil cannot be detected by visual inspection and therefore consumers rely on the labelling.”
But anyway, rant away.
I think we should go back to the EU table and re-negiotate our position on dipping olive oil... Dont you?Do you want pure olive oil or some cheapo substitute whilst paying full price? You get a fresh bottle, a dish to pour it into, big deal.
"..As worldwide demand grows, olive oil fraud has become rampant. Well-known Italian olive oil producers have been found guilty of importing lesser-quality olive oil from North Africa and elsewhere, relabelling and pricing it as a high-quality extra-virgin Italian product."
“Olive oil is a commodity that can easily be diluted or substituted with cheaper oil,” wrote Marilyn Taylor, a spokesman for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency in a bulletin from the agency last July. “The presence of other oils in olive oil cannot be detected by visual inspection and therefore consumers rely on the labelling.”
But anyway, rant away.
djstevec said:
Melman Giraffe said:
djstevec said:
On the plus side, NZ all out for 207.
Wooooooo HooooooooThank god for that.
Could we eek out a win rather than a draw I wonder?
Melman Giraffe said:
djstevec said:
Melman Giraffe said:
djstevec said:
On the plus side, NZ all out for 207.
Wooooooo HooooooooThank god for that.
Could we eek out a win rather than a draw I wonder?
djstevec said:
Melman Giraffe said:
djstevec said:
Melman Giraffe said:
djstevec said:
On the plus side, NZ all out for 207.
Wooooooo HooooooooThank god for that.
Could we eek out a win rather than a draw I wonder?
Melman Giraffe said:
djstevec said:
Melman Giraffe said:
djstevec said:
Melman Giraffe said:
djstevec said:
On the plus side, NZ all out for 207.
Wooooooo HooooooooThank god for that.
Could we eek out a win rather than a draw I wonder?
djstevec said:
Melman Giraffe said:
djstevec said:
Melman Giraffe said:
djstevec said:
Melman Giraffe said:
djstevec said:
On the plus side, NZ all out for 207.
Wooooooo HooooooooThank god for that.
Could we eek out a win rather than a draw I wonder?
Melman Giraffe said:
Ok so it's cheap runny Balsamic, still yummy IMO.
I'm sure you know this already, but just on the offchance you don't, try reducing the cheap, runny stuff, for 5 or ten mins in a pan, until its consistency becomes treacle-like. Once it's thick enough to cling to a spoon and run slowly off it, it's ready. It loses the sharpness you get with balsamic, and becomes deliciously sweet.
Drizzled over a salad it's amazing (cherry tomatoes, rocket and lettuce, for instance), especially for something you can knock up yourself cheaply in a matter of minutes.
In fact, I'm going to have some for lunch now you've made me think of it.
Super Slo Mo said:
Melman Giraffe said:
Ok so it's cheap runny Balsamic, still yummy IMO.
I'm sure you know this already, but just on the offchance you don't, try reducing the cheap, runny stuff, for 5 or ten mins in a pan, until its consistency becomes treacle-like. Once it's thick enough to cling to a spoon and run slowly off it, it's ready. It loses the sharpness you get with balsamic, and becomes deliciously sweet.
Drizzled over a salad it's amazing (cherry tomatoes, rocket and lettuce, for instance), especially for something you can knock up yourself cheaply in a matter of minutes.
In fact, I'm going to have some for lunch now you've made me think of it.
t MEP's job is to promote the British standpoint on all matters euro.Well firstly, as I want this analysis to be transparent, here is what the proposal actually says:
There is an interesting background to this not outlined in previous articles. Good quality olive oil is expensive and this has lead to counterfeiting. Trade organisations in Germany and olive oil suppliers have been lobbying to have this legislation passed (it was actually first proposed in '05) to ensure their customers are getting what they've paid for and producers of genuine high quality product are better protected (through an agreement governing labeling and packaging). This legislation is much akin to that governing alcoholic beverages actually.
Once again I'm disappointed on the quality of reporting, again I accuse popular media of pandering to a reactionary anti-EU crowd and not disclosing pertinent facts in full. I'd hope that regardless of your views on the EU next time you see an article making a claim the EU is about to do or has done something outrageous you would go back to the source of this information, read some more specialist literature to get a better background understanding and draw your own conclusions.
EC Reg. No 29/2012 said:
Oils...shall be presented to the final consumer in packaging of a maximum capacity of 5 litres. Such packaging shall be fitted with an opening system that can no longer be sealed after the first time it is opened and shall be labelled in accordance with...
However, in the case of oils intended for consumption in restaurants, hospitals, canteens and other similar collective establishments, the Member States may set a maximum capacity exceeding 5 litres for packaging depending on the type of establishment concerned.
For your delectation here is the proposal.However, in the case of oils intended for consumption in restaurants, hospitals, canteens and other similar collective establishments, the Member States may set a maximum capacity exceeding 5 litres for packaging depending on the type of establishment concerned.
There is an interesting background to this not outlined in previous articles. Good quality olive oil is expensive and this has lead to counterfeiting. Trade organisations in Germany and olive oil suppliers have been lobbying to have this legislation passed (it was actually first proposed in '05) to ensure their customers are getting what they've paid for and producers of genuine high quality product are better protected (through an agreement governing labeling and packaging). This legislation is much akin to that governing alcoholic beverages actually.
Once again I'm disappointed on the quality of reporting, again I accuse popular media of pandering to a reactionary anti-EU crowd and not disclosing pertinent facts in full. I'd hope that regardless of your views on the EU next time you see an article making a claim the EU is about to do or has done something outrageous you would go back to the source of this information, read some more specialist literature to get a better background understanding and draw your own conclusions.
I can sort of see the hygiene angle having viewed someone in a restaurant dipping their little finger in both the oil and vinegar decanters and licking their finger to taste it.
I doubt very much the contents would have been discarded and the bottles washed before being given to the next customer.
Yes, I know much worse probably happens back in the kitchen, but watching it happen and then wondering where that finger was earlier certainly put me off.
I doubt very much the contents would have been discarded and the bottles washed before being given to the next customer.
Yes, I know much worse probably happens back in the kitchen, but watching it happen and then wondering where that finger was earlier certainly put me off.
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