A little 'clarity, quasi, in terms of the presentation of olive oil in premises

Recently, with a friend who takes care of catering, I found myself discussing the presentation of the bottle of extra virgin olive oil that I'd like to see on the table in all restaurants.

Comparing them with others in the industry, I realized that in fact there is not much clarity.

For this reason, because I like to talk knowledgeably, I was informed by consulting Maximum Occhinegro, consulente enterprise in the field of taxation and international marketing, particularly with regard to the sector of olive oil in the European and non-European.

We will try to do some 'clarity, quasi (reading you'll understand why), inserting the Law 14 January 2013 n14 and interpretation of Massimo.

• Law 14 January 2013 n14

Art. 7 – Minimum durability and presentation of olive oil in premises.

1. The date of minimum durability within which the virgin olive oils retain their specific properties under suitable treatment can not be more than eighteen months from the date of bottling and should be preceded by the words "Best before" followed by the date.

2. The virgin olive oils offered in packages in the public exercises, without prejudice to the use of cooking and preparing meals, must have suitable closures so that the contents can not be altered without the package is opened or altered, or must be labeled to indicate at least the origin of the product and the production batch to which it belongs.

3. The violation of the prohibition referred to in paragraph 1 entails the application of the holder of the public exercise of an administrative fine of € 1.000 a € 8.000 and confiscation of the product.

4. Article 4 del Decreto-add 10 January 2006, n. 2, convert, with amendments, by law 11 March 2006, n. 81, paragraphs 4-c and 4-d are repealed.

“Interpretative key” the law in question by Massimo Occhinegro

The law 14 January 2013 with Article 14 of 7 second paragraph was intended to repeal the earlier law explicitly prohibiting the use of “famous” oil cruets. However albeit in a confusing, wanted to introduce on the one hand the use of bottles with caps and other anti-topping confirm the obligation of the origin and production batch to which it belongs.

The article, however, is poorly written and subject to different interpretations. The “key” interpretation lies in my opinion in the sense of “or”. In the Italian language “or” can be interpreted as a synonym for “or”, but in that case, the legislature might have thought bottles with locking system anti-topping, unlabeled, which is for logic, meaningless, one side, while the other packs without anti-filler cap but labeled with an indication of origin, date of maturity of less than 18 months from the packaging and production lot, which also in this case such eventuality would make little sense having regard to the desire to prevent the reuse of the packaging.

Therefore, the word “or”, in my opinion should be interpreted to mean “namely”, (as often happens in the formulation of laws) with the intention of offering a specific more compared to what is written in the first part of the same article 7, paragraph 2.

Ultimately this means that the bottles must be labeled as required by law and that more should have anti-filler caps. It is evident, however, that the wording of this item was made in a hasty and confusing as mentioned in the introduction.

What's left to say ... oh, well, I would say that at this point, the only thing that I would say, it is up to us to pay attention to choosing the right catering virtuous quality conscious.