`Conference Offers More Ideas for Greek Olive Oil Marketers - Olive Oil Times

Conference Offers More Ideas for Greek Olive Oil Marketers

By Elena Paravantes
Apr. 16, 2012 08:28 UTC

The Fifth Greek Olive Oil and Olive Festival took place in Athens from April 6th through April 8th. The event attracted con­sumers as well as those involved in the olive and olive oil indus­tries; Participants received up-to-date infor­ma­tion in the field of pro­duc­tion, leg­is­la­tion and pro­mo­tion of olive oil and olives.

Of par­tic­u­lar inter­est was the edu­ca­tional ses­sion pre­sent­ing new mar­ket­ing con­cepts for Greek olive oil pro­duc­ers. Speakers dis­cussed the impor­tance of a new approach to this age-old prod­uct of Greece.

Michael Manousos, General Manager of Foodstandard, a Greek com­pany pro­vid­ing ser­vices in food qual­ity and food mar­ket­ing, pre­sented the use of a QR code (Quick Response Code) on olive oil bot­tles. Manousos said the sim­ple addi­tion can pro­vide the con­sumer with the oppor­tu­nity to learn more about how and where the spe­cific olive oil is made.

Vasilis Kamvisis, chemist and cer­ti­fied olive oil taster, stressed the impor­tance of using dif­fer­ent vari­eties of olives and not just the Koroneiki, the most com­mon vari­ety used for Greek olive oil. Kamvisis explained that dif­fer­ent olive vari­eties could be used to make olive oils for dif­fer­ent tastes and culi­nary uses and thus be used as a mar­ket­ing tool.

Vicky Igglezou, General Manager of the Maniatakeion Foundation, dis­cussed the impor­tance of the Mediterranean diet as a poten­tial angle for pro­mot­ing olive oil. The foun­da­tion is a pri­vate, non-profit, insti­tu­tion whose mis­sion is to pre­serve the cul­tural her­itage and pro­mote the devel­op­ment of the town of Koroni in Greece. Koroni is one of the four com­mu­ni­ties that rep­re­sented Greece for the appli­ca­tion of the Mediterranean Diet on UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage List. Igglezou noted that the Mediterranean Diet as a cul­tural asset could be a tool for eco­nomic devel­op­ment, adding that proper man­age­ment of cul­tural her­itage not only increases its value, but also ensures its preser­va­tion.



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