Tunisian Ben Ismail Farm granted gold medal of London IOOC Awards in Olive Oil Quality competition 2017

Tunisian Monitor on line - Wednesday 3rd may 2017

The Ben Ismail Farm was awarded the gold medal of the London International Olive Oil Quality Competition (IOOC) in the Olive Oil Competition for the year 2017, held on April 14.

The Farm is located in Toukabeur, Medjez El Bab, Governorate of Beja, a well-known region for its land fertility with a variety of farming mainly growing olive trees and all sorts of fruit trees.

Maher Ben Ismail and Saleh Ben Ismail are two farmer brothers, who set for themselves a precious target for the conquest of the world market in the field of olive oil not only in production but mainly in terms of quality.

In fact, Salah Ben Ismail told Media that Tunisian olive oil, mainly in the northwest, is characterized by something very specific and unique in the world. The rate of polyphenol and tocopherol in Tunisian olive oil is extremely high which has started to take a great share of the world market because of its health benefits.

Salah Ben Ismail also said that the Japanese market is promising for Tunisian olive oil producers. The Japanese people use extra virgin olive oil in their gastronomy due to their awareness of its health benefit.

In turn, Maher Ben Ismail said that they took part in the London IOOC Awards (Olive Oil Competitions 2017) and they expected this triumph because of their awareness of the quality of the Tunisian olive oil.

The gold medal was in fact, the result of the hard work of the two Ben Ismail brothers who referred in their works to the experience inherited from their ancestors and their scientific expertise.

The Ben Ismail Farm has also various activities namely cattle and poultry breeding so as to stand firm in front of crisis and not relying only on olive olive production.

The purpose of the London International Quality Olive oil Competition is to inform olive-growers, oil producers, oil-pressers, processors and retailers, who distribute their standardized products legally, to preserve and to ameliorate the quality of their branded product by promoting high quality olive oil in every aspect of the spectrum of its use and consumption.

An established mainstream international olive oil competition will also include a contest focused on olive oils’ health benefits well as organoleptic characteristics.

London International Health Olive Oil Competition aims to promote “olive oils with a health claim as a superfood product in international markets across the world.

The goal is to promote the idea that the quality of extra virgin olive oil is directly related to health benefits.” Unlike other olive oil competitions, the London competition will include a health benefit score (70%, based on the phenolic concentration) and a taste score (30%).

Besides, The Ben Ismail Farm was awarded the bronze medal in the Athena international olive oil competition in its second edition held last March 20-22.

The Athena International Olive Oil Competition (ATHIOOC) showed a 15% increase in the number of participating samples; 295 extra virgin olive oils from nine countries were judged by a panel of 23 international experts from 11 countries.

MNHN