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The IOC presents the winners of the Mario Solinas Quality Awards for the quality of extra virgin olive oils from the northern hemisphere, at its traditional tasting session preceding the awards ceremony on June 25.
During the tasting, Madrid’s Deputy Mayor Inmaculada Sanz celebrated the agreement signed between the International Olive Council (IOC) and the organization Madrid Salud for the joint promotion of extra virgin olive oil.
IOC Executive Director Jaime Lillo welcomed the collaboration, which will promote training activities for Madrid Salud staff.
On June 5, 2024, on the occasion of the presentation of the winning extra virgin olive oils of the 24th edition of the Mario Solinas Quality Awards (Northern Hemisphere), IOC Executive Director Jaime Lillo announced that the Mario Solinas 2024 (Northern Hemisphere) awards ceremony would take place on Tuesday June 25, 2024, at the Caja de Música auditorium of the Cibeles Palace in Madrid. Mr. Lillo presented the IOC’s mission, the only intergovernmental organization dedicated exclusively to olive oil and table olives, and its main activities. He underlined the importance of the Mario Solinas Quality Awards in strengthening and diversifying the quality of commercialized extra virgin olive oils.
Madrid’s Deputy Mayor for Safety and Emergencies, Inmaculada Sanz, has announced that the autonomous body Madrid Salud and the IOC have signed an agreement to promote extra virgin olive oil. The agreement will enable the IOC to carry out training activities for Madrid Salud staff and raise awareness of the properties and characteristics of this unique product.
“Madrid Salud does an extraordinary job in food control. The agency has extraordinary equipment and resources, but its success is also due to its collaboration with organizations and bodies such as the IOC, which provide us with all their knowledge and rigor so that our professionals can carry out their work with maximum efficiency, with all the benefits that this entails for the people of Madrid,” said Mr. Sanz.
The Head of the IOC’s Standardization and Research Unit, Dr Mercedes Fernández Albaladejo, reported that 113 extra-virgin olive oils from 10 countries took part in the competition. Spain once again submitted the largest number of samples (57), followed by Tunisia (27), Portugal (15), Italy (4), Jordan (3), Greece (2), China (2), Algeria (1), Croatia (1) and France (1). Dr Fernández announced that this prestigious competition would be moving to Uruguay this year, on September 11 and 12, in Montevideo, as part of a new special edition devoted exclusively to extra virgin olive oils produced in the southern hemisphere.
The members of the international jury, made up of heads of panels recognized by the IOC, selected the six oils with the highest scores in each category.
The international Mario Solinas Quality Awards aims to encourage the production of olive oils of the highest quality. The competition encourages individual producers, producer associations and packers in producing countries to market extra virgin olive oils with harmonious organoleptic characteristics. It also raises consumer awareness of this unique product, inviting them to recognize and appreciate the sensory attributes of these quality olive oils.
The traditional tasting session, held this year in the magnificent gardens of the Mom Culinary Institute in Madrid, was led by several IOC-recognized heads of panels (Placido Pascual Morales, Elena Díaz Mejías, Gema Gómez de los Santos and María del Mar García González) and by Andrés Madrigal, chef of Per Se Bistró.
Among the top prizes in the various categories are two Spanish, two Italian and two Tunisian extra virgin olive oils:
Ripe fruitiness: Domaine Fendri – Sfax (Tunisia) – Deposit No. C6 of 5,000 liters
Delicate green fruitiness: Adonis Olive Oil – Slouguia (Tunisia) – Deposit No. C3 of 4,500 liters
Medium green fruitiness: Accademia Olearia SRL – Alghero (Italy) – Deposit No. 27 of 5,060 liters
Robust green fruitiness: Aziende Agricole di Martino – De Luca Di Roseto – Tupputi Schinosa Trani (Italy) – Deposit No. 6 of 14,000 liters.
Small-scale producers: Almazara La Loma S.L.- Canena (Spain) – Deposit No. CV I 23/24 of 1,000 liters.
Packers: Aceites Oro Bailén Galgón 99, SLU – Villanueva de la Reina (Spain) – Deposit No. 22 of 43,000 liters.
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