Xylella, millions of olive trees affected, 350 experts seek remedy
17 February 2021
The Food and Drug Administration has revised the definition of this food. It does so much good in preventing and combating a number of diseases that it must be considered as a drug. But it must be taken and kept following precise rules
It is in all the newspapers that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the strict government body that oversees the regulation of food and pharmaceutical products, which will be distributed on American soil, has revisited the definition of extra virgin olive oil from health food to medicine. Americans have not closed their eyes to the increasingly numerous and solid scientific evidence of the clinical efficacy of yellow gold or Mr. EVOO (as the Anglo-Saxons sympathetically put it) in the prevention of lethal cardiovascular diseases and cognitive deficits typical of the elderly, as well as than in reducing the risk of silent type II diabetes mellitus.
And perhaps not everyone knows that the daily intake of extra virgin olive oil is useful in reducing the risk of breast cancer thanks to its great anti-inflammatory and nutrigenomic properties. The Yankees did not need any further evidence to proceed and, as often happens, they burned over time the legislators of the old Mediterranean continent, where the millennial oleum olive was born, spreading from Syria, home of the first olive tree crops (Olea europaea), to the point of becoming an authoritative signature of “made in Italy” cuisine, and more. In fact, extra virgin olive oil has recently been rediscovered as a soothing ointment for skin protection, thanks to its squalene content, from which the more stable squalane originates (a saturated hydrocarbon of terpenic nature) widely used by cosmetics modern, but that’s another story.
But what precautions should be used to avoid damaging Mr. EVOO? In order not to alter its nutraceutical potential, it should be remembered that Mr. EVOO is very demanding and prefers:
• be stored at a temperature between 14 and 18 degrees; while, it does not like high temperatures or close to or below zero;
• be kept in small (maximum 500 milliliters) well-closed containers, always clean, made of glass (opaque or dark), porcelain or stainless steel, in cool places and away from aromatic contamination. Although tin is a good compromise for short periods, food-grade plastic should never be used. Recalling, however, that in catering, the Italian law Law 161 of 30 October 2014 (article 18, paragraph 1 c) prescribes the use of closed, labeled and non-refillable containers, while prohibiting the use of pleasant and artistic cruets or cruets ” domestic “.
• not to be in contact with oxygen and therefore do not allow it to remain in half-empty containers for a long time, even if hermetically sealed.
It is appropriate to say that spilling the oil in our diet touches thanks, and not misfortunes, frauds and counterfeits permitting.
