2008 Olive Processors' Course.  Leandro Ravetti (third from left) explaining the finer points of malaxing

Industry Vision

To create the environment for the NZ Olive industry to produce premium quality EVOO and olive products, and to market them successfully to the world.

Mission Statement

Olives New Zealand exists to:

• set and maintain quality standards for NZ produced olive products
• provide quality research & development to create and maintain a sustainable integrated olive industry
• implement an ongoing consumer awareness programme to promote the benefits, and create a preference for NZ olive products
• provide a focal organization which facilitates progressive direction for stakeholders in the olive industry

Objectives

• Implement ONZ quality assurance certification programme
• Promote research to establish unique characteristics of NZ EVOO’s
• Set product standards supportable by NZ EVOO’s
• Quality Assurance
  ONZ is working towards the adoption of a QA system covering all sections of the supply chain

Growers
Growers are certified by an approved supplier programme, either GAP NZ or organic programme (AgriQuality, Bio-Gro, Demeter)

Processors

• ONZ has an approved processor scheme in place
• Processors have gone through a training programme and are registered ONZ processors
• Processors have HACCP plans in place covering food safety and quality

Marketers – HACCP planning with ONZ Quality Accreditation

Certification
ONZ ‘s broad goals are to have in place verifiable quality assurance processes that ensure consumers can buy a certified, high quality, safe EVOO, carrying the registered OliveMark.

Current quality assurance processes that currently determine whether an oil is of sufficient quality to carry the OliveMark are that the oil must:

• have been chemically tested by an ONZ approved laboratory and the results meet ONZ standards
• have been approved by the ONZ sensory panel as being free from defects and meeting a minimum level of fruitiness.

ONZ’s aim is that certification requirements will be extended so that olives submitted for certification will come from growers who have:

• a GAP NZ approved supplier programme in place OR
• have formally begun to work towards organic certification with, or are organically certified by, approved organic certification organisations

CERTIFIED NEW ZEALAND EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL

Olives New Zealand runs a certification programme to underpin the superior quality of New Zealand extra virgin olive oil

The purpose of the Olives New Zealand certification programme is threefold :

• to provide producers and marketers of New Zealand olive oil with a “standard” method for establishing that their oil is of extra virgin quality
• to provide consumers with assurance that the oil they purchase is in fact of New Zealand origin and of extra virgin quality
• to provide producers and marketers who meet the certification standard with a means of distinguishing their products in the marketplace by the use of an Olives New Zealand Seal

 
For the consumer purchasing olive oil, only that oil displaying the “red dot” certification seal can be guaranteed as being extra virgin and produced from olives grown exclusively in New Zealand eg. it is not a blend of imported oil and New Zealand oil.

Extra virgin olive oil brands entitled to display the “red dot” for 2007 oil.

 

2008 Olive Processors' Course.  Jack Egerton pointing out a feature of the decanter

Marketing & Promotion
ONZ is working towards creating a positive market environment to enable ONZ members to sell their products successfully through ONZ:

• generically promoting NZ EVOO
• encouraging members to participate in identified promotional opportunities
• establishing a generic market information function
• promoting the value of the ONZ OliveMark
• focusing on established quality and health benefits of NZ EVOO
• running the ONZ Extra Virgin Olive Oil Awards on an annual basis
• initiating NZ market surveys
• setting up and managing a production statistics database
• monitoring and testing sample EVOO’s in the marketplace.
   

Olives New Zealand, is made up of individuals in New Zealand, growing, processing, and marketing olives.