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The Regional Council of Apulia estab­lished a Register of Master Millers, which will be ​“an instru­ment of pro­mo­tion and guar­an­tee for com­pa­nies and con­sumers,” as the pres­i­dent of the Apulian Millers Association (AFP), Stefano Caroli told Olive Oil Times. ​“It became nec­es­sary to for­mal­ize the role of a qual­i­fied and expe­ri­enced per­son, respon­si­ble for all the oper­a­tions car­ried out in the plant,” he said.

In response to the pro­posal launched by the Department of agri-food resources with the regional law 24 March 2014 n. 9, the deci­sion of the regional board was recently pub­lished in the offi­cial gazette of Apulia Region, mak­ing offi­cial the posi­tion of pro­fes­sion­als ​“in charge of the tech­ni­cal man­age­ment of the mill.” 

As defined by the bill, the mas­ter miller may be the com­pany owner or a del­e­gate who coor­di­nates ​“the stor­age room and records man­age­ment; the milling process; the pack­ag­ing stage; the man­age­ment, use and dis­posal of by-prod­ucts.” Those who demon­strate through a self-dec­la­ra­tion to have car­ried out these tasks over the last five years can apply for the entry in the register. 

Moreover, the Apulia Region will ensure the orga­ni­za­tion of spe­cific tech­ni­cal and prac­ti­cal train­ing courses, at the end of which par­tic­i­pants will obtain a cer­tifi­cate valid for the enroll­ment. The reg­is­ter is cre­ated and main­tained by the Apulian regional depart­ment of agri-food resources, but millers from all over Italy can apply and be part of it, as the list is in force at the national level.

“Since the approval of the regional law we received a very large num­ber of appli­ca­tions from all areas of the coun­try,” the AFP pres­i­dent affirmed. ​“We finally accom­mo­dated them and granted an exten­sion of 30 days to apply, since the deci­sion was made offi­cial dur­ing the period of work and most of millers were too busy to final­ize their requests,” he added.

Caroli assured the assis­tance of the AFP to all those who want to enroll in the reg­is­ter, attend the train­ing courses or get infor­ma­tion. ​“This mea­sure safe­guards the man­u­fac­ture of a prod­uct that is not only use­ful and tasty but also fun­da­men­tal for our health, and this sim­ple fact makes the role of miller so important.”

The new reg­is­ter is seen as an achieve­ment for the Italian Association of Olive Oil Millers (AIFO). ​“Our asso­ci­a­tion was founded 20 years ago, with the aim of pro­mot­ing and enhanc­ing the authen­tic­ity and qual­ity of Italian extra vir­gin olive oil, pro­duced with exper­tise and reli­a­bil­ity in the arti­sanal mills spread through­out the coun­try,” said the pres­i­dent of the AIFO, Piero Gonnelli. 

“The reg­is­ter of mas­ter millers is an impor­tant tool for the devel­op­ment and guar­an­tee of this craft, which is cur­rently car­ried out by com­pe­tent peo­ple who fol­low first­hand the whole pro­duc­tion process, in order to offer con­sumers a prod­uct of guar­an­teed qual­ity,” Gonnelli concluded.

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