Important- New Olive Oil Standards in the USA

Esteemed Customers and Colleagues,

The USDA Has recently issued their new standards for Grades of Olive Oil, and Olive Pomace Oil within the United States that will go into effect October 24th, 2010. The older standards that were enacted in 1949 will be replaced with these new standards.  Cibaria and its suppliers have been active in voicing the USA’s need for enhanced standards when it comes to olive oil quality.  Initially, the new standards will be used by U.S. Customs to inspect incoming shipments and will be voluntary for those doing business within the United States.  However, we are confident that it is the beginning of the U.S.’s move to stricter standards within the olive oil industry. In an effort to ensure that all olive oils in our marketplace are meeting the International Olive Oil Council’s standards, we believe this new regulation is a small improvement, of hopefully many more, to come from the USDA regarding olive oil.

What this New Standard Means For Your Company, and Your Customers

Cibaria International, Inc. will continue to strictly adhere to these regulations. In accordance with this new USDA policy, Cibaria now encourages you to submit Purchase Orders which include the clause that state “All deliveries must be in accordance with USDA standards”. By including this clause on your verbal or written purchase orders, you are ensuring that the oil you are receiving is exactly what the label states.  Although Cibaria has been clearly and honestly labeling products for years, many companies and distributors don’t practice this crucial process, which leads to increased fraud in the marketplace.

This new regulation is a small step in making companies more aware of the olive oil that they are receiving.  It is aimed at eliminating the mislabeling of products pertaining to the grade of olive oil that it may be.  This new regulation will also bring to light any oils that carry any unknown allergens that may be present in oils that do not meet the new USDA Olive Oil standards.

Vegetable Oil can no longer be blended with Olive Oil without carrying a clear label, which identifies all of the oil’s contents. The previous standards of 1949 did not offer a solution to those misrepresenting varieties of oils. This is truly a step in the right direction to better protect your company, and your customers.

To view the USDA’s document regarding these new standards:   http://www.cooc.com/docs/USDAstandard.pdf

Thank you for your patronage,

Cibaria International, Inc.

1203 Hall Ave.

Riverside, CA 92509

951-823-8490

Food Ingredients Suppliers Are Learning How to Gain Exposure

Recent studies have shown that food ingredient suppliers are learning how to use the internet to gain more online and offline exposure. 75% of surveyed companies have said that they plan to implement an internet marketing plan in 2010. 60% of these companies said they have already implemented a small-scale marketing plan that utilizes the internet. Food Ingredients Suppliers and Distributors are learning the importance of stretching their dollars as well. Many are hiring offshore or in-house marketers and designers to put their internet marketing plan into action.

Online marketing actually can begin with the face-to-face experience. A new trend has seen many food ingredients suppliers and bulk wholesalers displaying their website, facebook, and twitter addresses at their booths during food industry trade shows. Collecting email addresses at shows is also another great strategy being used by savvy marketers to make the most out of their event-based marketing. By keeping the lines of contact open, building an email list of prospective clients is priceless, even if your newsletter is just following up, or informing on new market trends.

Staying on top of opportunities to gain exposure is also a great way to gain some free PR. Building a solid list of media contacts who happen to write about the industry that you’re in will definitely help you gain the marketing edge that you’re looking for. Sending out regular press releases for company events and milestones is a great way to gain exposure as well.

Food companies are still clinging to old marketing methods by using a lot of print marketing in trade magazines. To intertwine the offline and online experience, many food industry marketing professionals are also including websites, twitter, and facebook addresses in print advertising. By bridging the gap between internet and non-internet marketing, it is also helping marketers measure the effectiveness of their campaigns on multiple levels, while building a community around their brand.

from Bulk Ingredients

Adulterated Olive Oils – Fraud in the Marketplace

What if I told you that there was a pretty good chance that the olive oil in your pantry or fridge is Adulterated Olive Oil?  You may be wondering “Adulterated with WHAT?” With the growing need to decrease business costs as much as possible, many olive oil companies have started to regularly adulterate their olive oils with cheaper oils to keep costs low. Usually, Olive oil is adulterated with canola oil. While this may not mean much to the average person, a seasoned chef, foodie, gourmet, grocery chain, or restaurant owner can find this quite disheartening. Real Extra Virgin Olive Oil enhances food in it’s own special way, in addition to also being a healthy cooking oil choice.

Fraud In the Olive Oil Marketplace

What does one do when they find themselves unsure if their olive oil is adulterated? And who deciphers if it’s adulterated?

As most olive oil consumers know, the price of real extra virgin olive oil has risen dramatically. At the same time the quality of the products being offered has deteriorated dramatically. Logic would dictate that a significant percentage of olive oil consumers would prefer real extra virgin olive oil instead of the over-priced, mislabeled and adulterated products that have flooded the market. However, the consumer’s voice isn’t heard behind most olive oil supplier’s walls.

Since the average consumer doesn’t get a say in what is carried at their local store, the problem simply worsens. Brokers and suppliers try to stay competitive for pricing, and while doing this – may inadvertently sell or buy adulterated olive oil. Eventually, it makes it way into stores, thus setting the bar for a cheaper price on olive oil in the industry that pure, unadulterated olive oil suppliers just can’ compete with.

In addition to canola, olive oils can be adulterated with cheaper oils such as pomace olive oil, or another cheaper refined oil.

The International Olive Oil Council (IOOC) is an intergovernmental organization based in Madrid, Spain, with 23 member states. It promotes olive oil around the world by tracking production, defining quality standards, and monitoring authenticity. More than 85% of the world’s olives are grown in IOOC member nations. The United States is not a member of the IOOC, and the US Department of Agriculture does not legally recognize its classifications (such as extra-virgin olive oil). The USDA uses a different system, which it defined in 1948 before the IOOC existed. The California Olive Oil Council, a private trade group, is petitioning the USDA to adopt IOOC rules.

The detection of olive oil adulteration is often complicated with no single test that can accomplish the task. A battery of tests is employed to determine Olive oil authenticity and identity of the adulterant. Included in this testing regime is the determination of free acidity, peroxide value, UV extinction, fatty acid composition, sterol composition, triglyceride composition, wax content, steroidal hydrocarbons, and the Bellier test. Test results are measured against the International Olive Oil Council trade standard to identify abnormalities. Each test provides key information which allows a decision to be made with respect to the grade of Olive oil and the identity of any adulterants.

Fixing the Problem

Since the adulteration of olive oils essentially depends on the market prices at the time, there really is no way to tell who is and who isn’t adulterating their olive oils without testing every single batch they churn out of their warehouse. Some actions you can take to insure that your favorite olive oil doesn’t turn to an adulterated oil is:

- Call your grocer’s headquarter’s and ask them to implement a system of testing.

- Run and report your own tests and findings to brands and companies that are carrying adulterated olive oils. (if you have the know-how)

- Report known cases of adulteration to the FDA and various authorities. Mislabeling a product and product deception is illegal in many parts of the world.

- Buy Olive Oil from only known unadulterated sources. Stay with what you know, and get the word out about avoiding known adulterated oils in your local stores.

Bulk Olive Oil, Bulk Oils, Wholesale Olive Oil, Olive Oil Supplier