{"id":9390,"date":"2026-10-08T09:46:02","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T06:46:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/recomed.net\/?p=9390"},"modified":"2026-10-08T09:47:42","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T06:47:42","slug":"post-22","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/recomed.net\/?p=9390","title":{"rendered":"Greek Olive Oil Industry Changes in the Last Decade, Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Greek Liquid Gold<\/a><\/strong> written by Lisa Radinovsky<\/a> <\/span> <\/span>

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Greek olive oil industry changes in the last ten years feature several positive trends, as ten experts discuss in Part 2 of a two-part series. Part 1<\/a> considered problems and challenges. Now we turn to encouraging news about progress that includes educational efforts to improve quality and a growing interest in Greek olive oil\u2019s flavor and health benefits.<\/p>

Greek olive oil industry changes for the better: progress with education, quality, and recognition<\/h2>

In spite of continuing problems, a number of Greek olive oil sector changes have been beneficial in the past decade. Improvement has been evident to Eleftheria Germanaki, Manager of the Sensory Evaluation Laboratory of Crete ACR and an International Olive Oil Competition Judge. She has noticed a gradual movement \u201ctowards greater emphasis on quality and differentiation. Producers and olive mills have invested more in earlier harvesting, improved knowledge, and elevated understanding of the sensory profiles [aromas and flavors of olive oil], recognizing that quality must be preserved in all production and storage phases.\u201d<\/p>

Germanaki outlines three developments that stand out in recent years: \u201cthe growing professionalization of quality management and sensory evaluation\u201d; more educational courses for producers, millers, and bottlers (in Crete, for example); and \u201ca stronger focus on Greek varieties and regional identity, with PDO\/PGI products<\/a> and origin increasingly used as differentiation tools.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cThe increase of overall quality and appreciation is the most important\u201d change in the Greek olive oil sector in the last ten years, according to Emmanouil Karpadakis, Secretary at the Exporters Association of Crete, and Olive Oil Production and Sensory Evaluation Expert. For this progress, he credits the young people and collaborative schemes that have been \u201capplying more science-based cultivation practices and developing their own labels\u201d or olive oil brands. Karpadakis also points out \u201can increased number of significant recognitions for Greek olive oil labels in high-level international competitions,\u201d which raises awareness of the value of Greek extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) both in and beyond Greece.<\/p>

Sharing knowledge at conferences to foster Greek olive oil industry evolution<\/h2>

Moreover, Karpadakis notes that \u201cthe continued recognition of the Mediterranean diet as the world\u2019s best diet overall,\u201d with EVOO \u201ca fundamental part\u201d of it, inspired \u201can increased number of very important olive oil-related conferences and forums here in Greece\u201d in the past decade. In addition to numerous local and regional scientific and educational events, these have included the international Yale Symposium on Olive Oil & Health,<\/a> Olive Oil & Table Olive Congress and Festival, Wine and Olive Oil in the Mediterranean<\/a> Conference, Cretan Lifestyle Conference<\/a>, and ELIA Lesvos Confest.<\/p>

\"Conference<\/p>

Fotini Tirpintiri, Organizer of the biennial ELIA Lesvos Confest<\/a>, emphasizes the value of bringing scientists from such institutions as Yale University, the University of Athens, and the International Olive Council in dialogue with Greek olive farmers, olive oil professionals, entrepreneurs, and hospitality and gastronomy professionals to exchange knowledge and experience about olive oil in relation to a variety of topics.<\/p>

The growing importance of Greek high-phenolic olive oil and evidence for its health benefits<\/h2>

One of the main topics at conferences on Greek olive oil has been its widely-recognized health benefits. Dr. Prokopios Magiatis, Associate Professor of Pharmacy at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, and Dr. Eleni Melliou, President of the World Olive Center for Health, describe the past decade as \u201cthe period in which Greek olive oil started moving from being primarily an agricultural product toward becoming a scientifically characterized functional food, increasingly supported by human clinical evidence.\u201d In Magiatis and Melliou\u2019s opinion, during the last ten years the identity of Greek olive oil has become differentiated by its bioactive composition, including its healthful natural phenolic compounds, as well as its flavor, quality, and origin.<\/p>

\u201cFor us,\u201d they add, \u201cone of the most important developments has been the emergence of high-phenolic olive oil<\/a> as a distinct premium and functional category.\u201d Clinical trials have been \u201cproviding increasingly strong evidence<\/a>\u201d that olive oil phenols\u2019 biological activity \u201cmay translate into measurable effects in humans,\u201d for example for \u201ccardiovascular and metabolic health, inflammation, and cognitive function<\/a>.\u201d This clinical research has \u201cbegun to change the way both producers and consumers perceive olive oil.\u201d New analytical methods and research have also changed the way olive oil is produced by innovators interested in enhancing the health benefits of their products.<\/p>

Positive changes are underway in the Greek olive oil sector, but more are needed<\/h2>

Chloe Dimitriadis, Director of Biolea Astrikas Estate, sums up views shared by many Greek olive oil professionals: she sees several encouraging Greek olive oil sector trends in the last decade, but she would like to see additional progress. \u201cMore producers are starting to change practices to be more careful about olive oil quality, more brands are entering olive oil competitions, we are starting to talk about polyphenol content and organoleptics [flavor and aroma] instead of just looking at acidity, we are seeing a slight change towards organic cultivation and sustainable agriculture, but this change is happening very slowly.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cWe also have seen more focus on agrotourism and olive oil tourism,\u201d Dimitriadis continues, \u201cbut not enough. Restaurants are starting to add olive oil lists and branded olive oil on tables, chefs are starting to see the value of using extra virgin oil in recipes, but unfortunately\u201d bulk olive oil still appears on many Greek restaurant tables<\/a>, and virgin olive oil is not consistently used in restaurant kitchens. Like many others, Dimitriadis decries such tendencies. She asks, \u201cif we as a culture don\u2019t learn to respect and value olive oil as an artisanal product and package it as such, how can we expect the rest of the world to do so?\u201d<\/p>

Many significant Greek olive oil industry changes have occurred in the past decade, both good and bad. (If you missed Part 1 of this two-part series, which considered less welcome news, you can find it here<\/a>.) Clearly, much more remains to be accomplished in the coming decade. The next Greek Liquid Gold article will explore the future of Greek olive oil.<\/p>

Thanks to Eleftheria Germanaki for the photo of her tasting olive oil, and to Dimitris Talianis for the photo of ELIA Lesvos Confest participants on a stage.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Greek Liquid Gold written by Lisa Radinovsky October 6, 2026 Greek olive oil industry changes in the last ten years feature several positive trends, as ten experts discuss in Part 2 of a two-part series. Part 1 considered problems and challenges. Now we turn to encouraging news about progress that includes educational efforts to improve … <\/p>\n

Read more “Greek Olive Oil Industry Changes in the Last Decade, Part 2”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9391,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_xspeed_no_cache":false,"_xspeed_expiry_hours":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[83],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-olive-news"],"featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":["https:\/\/recomed.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Eleftheria-Germanaki-tasting-Greek-olive-oil-full-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/recomed.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Eleftheria-Germanaki-tasting-Greek-olive-oil-full-300x124.jpg",300,124,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/recomed.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Eleftheria-Germanaki-tasting-Greek-olive-oil-full.jpg",768,318,false],"large":["https:\/\/recomed.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Eleftheria-Germanaki-tasting-Greek-olive-oil-full.jpg",870,360,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/recomed.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Eleftheria-Germanaki-tasting-Greek-olive-oil-full.jpg",870,360,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/recomed.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Eleftheria-Germanaki-tasting-Greek-olive-oil-full.jpg",870,360,false],"inspiro-featured-image":["https:\/\/recomed.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Eleftheria-Germanaki-tasting-Greek-olive-oil-full.jpg",870,360,false],"inspiro-loop":["https:\/\/recomed.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Eleftheria-Germanaki-tasting-Greek-olive-oil-full-870x320.jpg",870,320,true],"inspiro-loop@2x":["https:\/\/recomed.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Eleftheria-Germanaki-tasting-Greek-olive-oil-full.jpg",870,360,false],"portfolio_item-thumbnail":["https:\/\/recomed.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Eleftheria-Germanaki-tasting-Greek-olive-oil-full-600x360.jpg",600,360,true],"portfolio_item-thumbnail@2x":["https:\/\/recomed.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Eleftheria-Germanaki-tasting-Greek-olive-oil-full.jpg",870,360,false],"portfolio_item-masonry":["https:\/\/recomed.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Eleftheria-Germanaki-tasting-Greek-olive-oil-full-600x248.jpg",600,248,true],"portfolio_item-masonry@2x":["https:\/\/recomed.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Eleftheria-Germanaki-tasting-Greek-olive-oil-full.jpg",870,360,false],"portfolio_item-thumbnail_cinema":["https:\/\/recomed.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Eleftheria-Germanaki-tasting-Greek-olive-oil-full-800x335.jpg",800,335,true],"portfolio_item-thumbnail_portrait":["https:\/\/recomed.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Eleftheria-Germanaki-tasting-Greek-olive-oil-full-600x360.jpg",600,360,true],"portfolio_item-thumbnail_portrait@2x":["https:\/\/recomed.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Eleftheria-Germanaki-tasting-Greek-olive-oil-full.jpg",870,360,false],"portfolio_item-thumbnail_square":["https:\/\/recomed.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Eleftheria-Germanaki-tasting-Greek-olive-oil-full-800x360.jpg",800,360,true]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/recomed.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/recomed.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/recomed.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/recomed.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/recomed.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9390"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/recomed.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9390\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9397,"href":"https:\/\/recomed.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9390\/revisions\/9397"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/recomed.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/recomed.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/recomed.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/recomed.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}