Olio di Piatello

The oil produced by Piatello is some of the best quality olive oil one can buy.  The olives are picked by hand, washed, stoneground and crushed.  We use the first cold press, simply using traditional mechanical methods and not using any  processes or chemicals. 

We put the oil into 60 litre vats and fly the oil to the UK where it is bottled in Kent. The olives are grown organically. No pesticides are used. Nothing is added.

We have total control and knowledge of our product.

The Politics surrounding Olive Oil production

Adulterated olive oil has become the biggest source of agricultural fraud problems in the EU. While less than 10% of world olive oil production meets the criteria for labelling as extra virgin, it has been estimated that up to 50% of retail oil is labelled as “extra virgin”. Some oil labelled “extra virgin” is diluted with cheaper oil or other vegetable oils.  In some cases “lamp oil”, which is made from spoiled olives fallen from trees, is used, even though it can’t legally be sold as food. One fraud ring is accused of colouring low grade soy oil and rape seed oil with industrial chlorophyll and flavouring it with beta carotene.

Some of the huge Spanish owned olive oil traders and bottling companies (which also control some of the biggest Italian brands) are selling low grade oil as “extra virgin”.  The spot price of this “extra virgin”  olive oil in the European markets has consequently dropped.  Honest producers around the world are being undercut by cheap foreign oil

The problem of adulterated oil is usually no more serious than passing off an inferior, but safe, product, as superior olive oil. However, there are no guarantees. It is believed that, in 1981, almost 700 people died as a consequence of consuming rapeseed oil adulterated with aniline, intended for use as an industrial lubricant, but sold in Spain as olive oil.