USA will import gazpacho and salmorejo made in Spain with olive oil

Olive oil enjoys an excellent reputation as a food fat, firstly for its organoleptic properties, but also for its beneficial characteristics for a healthy diet. These are qualities that the Spanish food industry has been able to take advantage of and which it is using more and more every day to achieve more beneficial and attractive products for the consumer.

Aware of the opportunity that this means for all operators, the World Olive Oil Congress (OOWC) organised a conference entitled 'Olive oil in the food industry', an event framed within the activities of the period "En Route to the OOWC" to analyse the possibilities offered by this raw material in the food sector.

During his presentation, Wenceslao Moreda, senior scientist at the CSIC's Instituto de la Grasa, pointed out the three main uses of olive oil "as a product and pillar of the Mediterranean diet, as an ingredient in preserves, infused oils and baby food, as well as its use in the Horeca channel in ready meals, pastries and bakery, dairy products, industrial frying, organic products, restaurants and bars, not forgetting cosmetics and household products".

According to data from the United States Department of Agriculture and the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, the expert highlighted how within the world production of vegetable oils "olive oil, with 2.82 million tonnes, is far below other types of oil such as palm and soya, with 77.22 million and 61.49 million tonnes respectively".

Likewise, and despite the fact that olive oil is extremely beneficial for health, both in preventing and reducing the risk of disease, olive oil consumption in the world was clearly surpassed by palm and soya oil.

In this regard, the scientist pointed out that "in Spain, over the last decade, adherence to the Mediterranean diet among adolescents has fallen from 27% to 13%, despite being one of the countries with the highest obesity rates among children in Europe. In contrast, in the United States, whose concept a priori is that of a country where fast food is the norm, they are currently doing outstanding work to promote a healthy diet".

Likewise, and despite the fact that olive oil is extremely beneficial for health, both in preventing and reducing the risk of disease, olive oil consumption in the world was clearly surpassed by palm and soya oil.

In this regard, the scientist pointed out that "in Spain, over the last decade, adherence to the Mediterranean diet among adolescents has fallen from 27% to 13%, despite being one of the countries with the highest obesity rates among children in Europe. On the other hand, in the United States, whose concept a priori is that of a country where fast food is the norm, they are currently doing an outstanding job in promoting a healthy diet".

With regard to olive oil as an ingredient, the scientist highlighted how "the Spanish agri-food industry has adopted olive oils as a quality product thanks to its unbeatable image, compared to other oils and fats, fundamentally because of its healthy qualities" and recalled that "canned fish is one of the sectors where olive oil is most used".

This was followed by the round table discussion 'The food industry and olive oil', with the participation of experts Silvia Martín, director of ASEMAC Food Regulations; Esteban Momblán, manager of Interóleo and president of CITOLIVA; and Dolores Iniesta, president of the ANDI Communication Group.

The speakers agreed that food has become one of the major concerns worldwide, with the main challenge for the future being the substitution of other types of fats in favour of olive oil as a healthy product, especially in bakery, pastries, confectionery and children's products.

The members of the round table also assured that the increase in the final price of food products that include olive oil in their elaborations is not relevant for the industry to substitute olive oil for monosaturated fats.

The speakers also stated that there has been a change in the type of family and, consequently, the time spent in the kitchen. This has led to an increase in the purchase of 4th and 5th range products by consumers, which, in the opinion of the participants, means an important market niche for the olive oil sector if manufacturers opt for olive oil in their preparations.

On the other hand, the table highlighted the latest data from the International Olive Oil Council, the European Commission and the sector itself, which indicate that in the United States the consumption of olive oil in food products has increased in recent years, going from provisional data of 389,000 tonnes in the 2021/2022 campaign to a forecast of 401,000 tonnes of consumption in the 2022/2023 campaign. In this way, the speakers agreed that in less than five years it will be possible to consume the same amount of olive oil in Spain as in the United States, where this year a Spanish brand will import gazpacho and salmorejo made with Spanish olive oil.

Finally, the speakers stressed that it is necessary to establish greater lines of communication with consumers about the qualities and benefits of olive oil in food. Similarly, they referred to the fact that currently no more than 10% of olive oil sales are directed to the food industry, although it is true that this percentage is increasing every year, an issue that the OOWC will be studying in the coming months given its importance.

All the information about the World Olive Oil Congress and the sector is available in the 'Olive Oil World Congress' app, for Android and IOS in both Spanish and English. To download the APP it is necessary to access Google Play in the Android version or via the following link, and in the case of the IOS version via the APP Store by entering the following link: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/olive-oil-world-congress/id1672583400.

Under the slogan 'Taste it, enjoy, It's olive oil', the congress has AgroBank, the Junta de Castilla-La Mancha through the brand Campo y Alma and the Junta de Andalucía through its brand 'Gusto del Sur' as Platinum sponsors, Grupo Interóleo, Balam Agriculture and Agrocolor, as Gold sponsors; and the company Kubota as Silver sponsor.