American Olive Oil Producers Association Selected by USDA for $2 Million Unprecedented Study of U.S. Olive Oil

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 13, 2025

Clovis, CA – The American Olive Oil Producers Association (AOOPA) was selected to receive $2 million cooperative agreement by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) under the Assisting Specialty Crop Exports (ASCE) Initiative to conduct a four-year study of olive oil produced throughout the United States. The ASCE initiative is an innovative program that provides an opportunity for USDA to partner with U.S. specialty crop producers, such as American olive oil producers, to address non-tariff trade barriers in overseas markets.

“We are grateful to the Trump Administration under the leadership of USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins to significantly advance efforts to eliminate non-tariff trade barriers for American producers and support the highest quality standards for extra virgin olive oil consumers,” said Kimberly Houlding, President and CEO of the American Olive Oil Producers Association. “We believe consumers deserve to receive all the health benefits of extra virgin olive oil, and that starts with quality standards and a “Best if Used By” date on the bottle that based on science.”

This funding enables AOOPA, in partnership the University of California, Davis; University of Georgia; and Modern Olives laboratory (three global experts in the collection, testing, and compilation of crop data), the unprecedented opportunity to collaborate, test, and compile olive oil data from the seven (7) olive oil producing states across the United States.

This effort will answer the call by the Codex Alimentarius Committee for Fats and Oils (CCFO) for data on key quality parameters, pyropheophytin (PPP) and 1,2-diglycerides (DAGs), which are indicators of the age and shelf-life of extra virgin olive oil, for potential inclusion in the CCFO international food standard; provide a better understanding of the natural variations in the chemistry of olive oil produced in different regions of the United States that aren’t currently recognized in international standards; and equip American farmers with important data and scientific analysis of the olive oil they produce.

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