Tunisian extra virgin olive oil “Olivko” won the Gold Award at the world’s largest and most prestigious extra virgin olive oil competition, known as the New York International Olive Oil Competition (NYIOOC), held in New York, USA on Thursday, April 27, 2017.
Curtis Cord, the founder of the NYIOOC and publisher of Olive Oil Times said “we are not here only to celebrate the winners of this competition, we’re here for much bigger purpose to recognize and applaud every producer who has set out to craft the best olive oil under whatever condition you faced this time.”
In the New York International Olive Oil Competition, which evaluated 910 olive oils from 27 countries, Tunisia took the leading position alongside Italy, Spain, the United States and Greece, Karim Fitouri Founder of Olivko said adding that this award is not only for me but for all Tunisian olive oil sector,”
The NYIOOC provided the opportunity to show that Tunisia has an enormous potential for producing high-quality olive oil,” he asserted.
Karim Fitouri said that Tunisian extra virgin olive oil is a very unique variety. This gold-awarded Olivko extra virgin olive oil “Chetoui”, comes from the Dougga valley, an archaeological site declared a UNESCO heritage site, he underlined.
Karim Fitouri said that Tunisia’s 3,000-year history of olive farming is growing olive in all the regions of the country from the North to the South with the same high quality which helps Tunisia snatch a top position worldwide not only in production but also in terms of good quality.
Olive growing remains as one of Tunisia’s main agricultural activities, he went on saying, adding that this sector plays a key social and economic role. The rate of olive oil production in Tunisia stands at 34% of our agricultural sector which made it possible to hire 56% of the labour force of the farming sector Karim Fitouri highlighted.
He noted the positive impact of olive oil on the Tunisian economy as a key export product. Tunisia is the second exporter worldwide after the European Union, he concluded.
TunisianMonitorOnline (MNHN)
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