On May 16, 2024, the Olivar Foundation at its headquarters in Menjbar (Jaén) hosted the 4th harmonization conference for the official virgin olive oil tasting panels recognized by the IOC, an unmissable event for professionals in the sector in Iberian Peninsula.
Ibtihel Khemakhem, Head of the Laboratory and Management Section of the International Olive Council Group, attended the inauguration of this year’s event, together with Soledad Aranda, Regional Delegate for Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Development Rural of the COI and the President of the Olivar Foundation, and Francisco de Paula Rodriguez Garcìa, Technical Advisor of the Innovation Directorate of the Andalucía Administration.
Ibtihel Khemakhem highlighted the importance of organizing tasting panel harmonization workshops, one of the main missions of the IOC, in order to minimize discrepancies between their results, as well as improve the quality of virgin olive oils and facilitate the international trading. The digital sensory analysis platform of virgin olive oils provided by the Olivar Foundation was used during the conference.
This platform was selected by the IOC following a public call for tenders as part of the Organization’s activities to harmonize the tasting panels recognized by the IOC. It has already been used in three panel harmonization workshops organized by the COI with satisfactory results. The Organization has made the platform available to all its recognized tasting panels to use in their daily tasting sessions.
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