NYIOOC Names Panel Leaders

The NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition has named three panel lead­ers for the sixth edi­tion of the world’s most pres­ti­gious olive oil qual­ity con­test: Brígida Jiménez Herrera from Spain, Olfa Baccouri from Tunisia and Antonio G. Lauro from Italy.

Each year since 2014, the NYIOOC pres­i­dent, Curtis Cord, has des­ig­nated three judges among the panel of experts to lead the inter­na­tional team in their four-day task to eval­u­ate entries for the com­pe­ti­tion.

The panel lead­ers are the author­i­ta­tive points of ref­er­ence for the elite 18-mem­ber judg­ing panel. Together, with the NYIOOC pres­i­dent, they are respon­si­ble for assur­ing the qual­ity and con­sis­tency of the analy­ses of nearly 1,000 olive oil sam­ples from 27 coun­tries.

For Jiménez Herrera and Lauro, it will be the sec­ond time they have led the New York panel and the first appoint­ment for Baccouri, a researcher and long-time mem­ber of the Tunisian Olive Oil Sensory Panel and five-time NYIOOC judge.

Held each April, the NYIOOC is the largest olive oil qual­ity con­test, and its annual list­ing of award win­ners is widely con­sid­ered to be the most trusted guide to the year’s top olive oil brands.

The NYIOOC judg­ing panel is com­posed of renowned olive oil sen­sory ana­lysts. Over the course of the event, they method­i­cally assess the qual­ity of entries to ulti­mately unveil the best olive oils of the year.