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Miller envisions something like the grades often attributed to wines, only less subjective. “Now that we know about the life of oil and that’s a measureable condition, why not communicate that to the consumer?” he asked. While standards like Australia’s, the USDA’s, Codex Alimentarius and the International Olive Council’s serve the governments who adopt them well, Miller said they don’t do enough for the consumer. There’s an opportunity to have a good trade document that buyers and sellers will be comfortable with that relates to the end result.

So Armed with what he called that “complete story” Miller and his colleagues rounded up like-minded industry players from the the United States including the Olive Center’s Dan Flynn and representatives form the California Olive Oil Council “to have a bit of a forum to see if we needed a group to pursue these objectives and form a world olive oil quality alliance, effectively connecting producers and consumers.”

The group was also joined by Manuel Paras Rosa, the rector of the University of Jaén. Dr. Rosa, who Miller called a “guru on consumer attitudes” about olive oil, and the “go-to man for the European Commission,” supported the new Australian standard — a position perhaps not too popular in Andalusian olive oil circles. There was a pledge of cooperation between the University Rosa heads, the University of California at Davis Olive Center and the Australian Olive Association.

The American Oil Chemists’ Society will be the body to conduct proficiency testing and serve the technical and scientific part of the new alliance, according to Miller, whose members at this embryonic stage are the California Olive Oil Association, Georgia Olive Growers Association, the Australian Olive Association and South Africa Olive Industry Association.

What about the established “Old World” olive oil producing countries? Miller said he imagined some of the producers there would be very interested in the initiative. “It’s not a them-and-us operation,” he said, but neither could he resist admitting that “to some degree this was driven by some frustration because of how the old world is and its dominance in the industry.”

When asked about the Association 3E and its efforts to introduce a super-premium olive oil designation and develop a common language of olive oil quality, Miller said, “They had a go at it and it doesn’t seem to be necessarily going anywhere. The general view of our group is that we don’t need ultra-premium, we just need extra virgin. Why would you try to create something new when extra virgin has such a good brand value out there? All we need is (extra virgin) to be what it is.”

It’s been quite a few months and Miller sighed when asked about what the rest of the year had in store for him and the initiative he has agreed to lead. He will be consulting with Bruce Golino in the U.S., Andries Rabie in South Africa and Leandro Ravetti about reaching out in South America with the aim of signing off on the alliance early in the new year.

This article was last updated December 7, 2011 - 6:54 PM (GMT-4)