The (justified!) anger of Italian olive growers over the aid to Tunisia, which will export 35 thousand tons of olive oil to the European Union market in 2016 and an equal amount in 2017 at zero duty (i.e. at zero cost!), does not subside.
The measure, approved on February 25 by the European Parliament to help the North African country hit by terrorism, risks damaging Italian producers. Especially those from Puglia!
"The Tunisian olive oil exported - explains Vincenzo Lucarella - is not traced, and therefore can easily mix with other types of Italian and non-Italian oil, extra virgin and non-extra virgin, and magically become Italian, to the detriment not only of us producers but also of Italian consumers. In other words, there will be real chaos that will do nothing but increase the number of frauds in the olive oil sector. Therefore, it is very important that the Italian consumer carefully reads the label on the bottle of oil he buys to avoid deception and fraud that have little to do with the guarantees of quality and Italianness of the product.
The latest measure approved by the EU is nothing more than an ad hoc law for those who continue to promote and defend industrial products to the detriment of those who, like us, try to offer the market products of the highest quality with relative traceability of the same. And then, there is much talk of the fight against Italian sounding in defense of "made in Italy" but, by doing so, in my opinion, it is brought to an end, also because with all the frauds that have occurred and those that will occur, 100% Italian risks no longer being credible.
And then, I conclude, why does the EU care about helping an African country in full crisis when in Italy, and especially in Puglia, there are olive oil companies that are dying?!».
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For further information, we invite you to watch the report on Tunisian olive oil and the interview with Vincenzo Lucarella made for the Tagadà program and aired on March 3rd on La7