Swiss Olive Oil Panel (SOP)
Since the International Olive Oil Award – Zurich (IOOA) was first carried out in 2002, there has been an expert panel for olive oil at the ZHAW - University of Applied Sciences Zurich (Swiss Olive Oil Panel (SOP)).
The experts are recruited from participants in the courses “Sensory Analysis Licence for Olive Oil”. These courses are offered at the ZHAW in accordance with the demands of the International Olive Oil Council (IOOC) and consists of 5 modules plus a final exam. The course provides the basic theoretical and practical (sensoric) knowledge necessary for the objective testing of native olive oil. On successful completion of the course, participants have the opportunity to join the Swiss Olive Oil Panel (SOP) as experts (see additional information under "services & courses").
Since 2003 certain members of the SOP have been undergoing the process necessary for Recognition by the IOC. This means that the ZHAW Olive Oil Ex-pert Panel takes part in round robin testing with the aim of becoming one of the approximately 40 panels recognized by the IOC.
Since 2006 the SOP ist part of the Testing Laboratory for Consumertests and Sensory Analytics (STS 240) at ZHAW and therefore accredited according to ISO 17025.
The members of the SOP undergo a Regular Training throughout the year, partly on training days at the ZHAW and partly by means of training samples which are sent to them for evaluation.
They additionally are educated through regular Panel-Trips to Olive Oil procucing countries. Contact and exchange respectively training together with foreign olive oil panels as well as visits of olive growers and olive oil producers are an important part of the continous development and broad support of the olive oil know-how of our panel. This of course is as well an important confirmation of the competence of the Swiss Olive Oil Panel (SOP) at ZHAW.
- 2008 - Liguria (Italy)
Download - 2009 - Lake Garda / Tuscany (Italy) Download. The movie below shows the mechanical harvesting of olives with a tree shaker.
- 2010 - Spain, Greece or Slovenia (in planning)
