"Vilco" wrote:
Nope: the only thing which can assure you of the origin of the olives are
the DOP and IGT labelings (EU rules). All the rest is BS. Let's see it in
detail.

It's hardly all BS. The rules are different in the USA vs. EU regarding
olive oil and certainly the USA rules are far less exhaustive than those in
the EU. One of the primary omissions in USA rules is in grading. But country
of origin is enforced.

Following are some excerpts from USA government agencies regarding olive oil
and country of origin in general. CBP is Customs and Border Patrol and FDA
is Food and Drug Administration.

The result of these rules are the "imported from" vs. "product of" phrases
in order to prevent misleading labeling, not that many consumers understand
the difference, or even read the labels.

One of the cases of misleading labeling that is perfectly legal that I ran
across years ago was the labeling on Kirin beer sold in the USA. The label
proudly declared "IMPORTED", leaving the distinct impression that it came
from Japan. But read the fine print, and it said "brewed in Canada". Though
it's technically correct, I don't think most people in the USA consider
Canadian products to be imported in the same sense as from other parts of
the world. I'm sure the intent of the label was to mislead, and I'm sure
they chose a Canadian location rather than a USA location for this reason.

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Extract from:
http://www.cbp.gov/xp/CustomsToday/2...oditytrail.xml

Olive oil is a case in point where CBP's enforcement efforts work. About
eight to ten years ago country of origin was a concern. Olive oil was being
shipped to Italy from Greece or Turkey and labeled "Imported from Italy."
Stringent enforcement efforts served as a deterrent with the result that
today there are few problems with marking and country of origin.
----

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Extract from:
http://www.fda.gov/ora/compliance_re...pg560-200.html

Food labeling statements regarding geographical origin must not be false or
misleading in any particular. FDA's policy prohibiting false or misleading
labeling of food applies equally to imported and domestic products (*section
403(a)(1)* and 21 CFR 101.18).
....
FDA's policy regarding false or misleading country of origin labeling is to
defer to *CBP*. Such labeling is also a violation of the Tariff Act of 1930,
which is enforced by *CBP*, and *CBP* can generally deal with this problem
more efficiently than FDA.
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