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An inter­na­tional panel of experts began ana­lyz­ing 910 entries from 28 coun­tries this morn­ing at the fifth annual New York International Olive Oil Competition (NYIOOC) — the largest such event in the world.

At 9 o’clock the first sam­ples were dis­trib­uted to 15 judges whose deter­mi­na­tions will lead to the unveil­ing of this year’s best extra vir­gin olive oils at a press con­fer­ence Thursday evening.

That the indus­try’s most pres­ti­gious qual­ity con­test takes place far from where olives are grown might be sur­pris­ing to some, but it makes per­fect sense to the men and women on the judg­ing panel from 10 coun­tries who return each year to rec­og­nize and cel­e­brate the cream of this year’s crop.

“There is no place like New York,” said Konstantinos Liris, a Greek olive oil expert, 2016 panel leader and four-time judges at the NYIOOC. ​“This is the pin­na­cle event in our indus­try and it’s an honor to serve on the panel with these esteemed col­leagues.”

Curtis Cord, the NYIOOC founder and pres­i­dent, said his team has pre­pared all year to pro­vide the best pos­si­ble sup­port for the judges to do their impor­tant work. ​“The room is quiet, the staff is ready and our panel is well rested,” Cord said this morn­ing as the judg­ing was about to begin. ​“Now our mis­sion is to give each and every one of the 910 sam­ples the atten­tion it deserves.”

Despite a dif­fi­cult har­vest sea­son across many areas of the Mediterranean, the event set another record for the num­ber of entries, beat­ing last year’s record by 83 brands and mak­ing the NYIOOC, by far, the world’s largest olive oil com­pe­ti­tion both in terms of the num­ber of con­tes­tants and the coun­tries resp­re­sented.

Producers, chefs, food buy­ers and dis­cern­ing con­sumers will be watch­ing the announce­ment of the results Thursday at 5:30 PM (EDT) on Facebook Live and the offi­cial results web­site, bestoliveoils.org, when the best olive oils for 2017 will be revealed.

Award win­ners will be listed in the NYIOOC’s offi­cial Index of the World’s Best Olive Oils and many will be avail­able through the Best Olive Oils Marketplace, the online por­tal where buy­ers can source the win­ning oils from retail­ers and dis­trib­u­tors who stock them.

The win­ning brands will also be fea­tured in the first annual ​“Guide to the World’s Best Olive Oils,” a printed guide­book that will be avail­able through Amazon and other book­sellers in May.