Europe Approves PDO for Memecik from Aydın, Turkey

The European Parliament and the Council have approved the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) appli­ca­tion of Aydın Memecik Zeytinyağ extra vir­gin olive oil.

The res­o­lu­tion was pub­lished in the Official Journal of the European Union on October 18^th. If there is no objec­tion in the next three months, the Aydın Memecik Zeytinyağ PDO will be con­firmed.

According to the appli­ca­tion, Aydın Memecik Zeytinyağı is made exclu­sively from Memecik olives grown and milled in the south­west­ern Aegean province of Aydın. Memecik trees com­prise an esti­mated 75 per­cent of the olives grown in Aydın.

Turkish author­i­ties describe Aydın Memecik Zeytinyağı as green to golden yel­low with an intensely fruity odor and a pro­nounced bit­ter­ness and pun­gency.

The appli­ca­tion cites var­i­ous fac­tors con­tribut­ing to the unique prop­er­ties of the mono­va­ri­etal extra vir­gin olive oil, includ­ing its loca­tion, his­tor­i­cal ties to the region and phe­no­lic con­tent.

The province of Aydın is located in the Büyük Menderes Basin, sur­rounded by moun­tains to the north and south. The basin extends to the Aegean Sea, cre­at­ing a wind cor­ri­dor.

Authorities con­tend that these winds con­tribute to the province’s unique cli­mate and organolep­tic prop­er­ties of the locally-pro­duced extra vir­gin olive oil.

“These winds give ​‘Aydın Memecik Zeytinyağı’ its unique organolep­tic prop­er­ties, such as bit­ter­ness and pun­gency, and pro­tect the olives against the olive fly dur­ing the ripen­ing period,” they wrote. ​“The low rate of dam­age by the olive fly ensures that the olive oil’s free acid­ity and per­ox­ide con­tent is low.”

Additionally, author­i­ties argue that the region’s 2,000-year his­tory of olive farm­ing and olive oil pro­duc­tion, along with cen­tury-old ini­tia­tives to pro­mote both activ­i­ties, have made olive oil a core com­po­nent of local cul­ture.

Fevzi Çondur, the chair­man of the Aydın Commodity Exchange, told local media that the new PDO would help the province’s eco­nomic devel­op­ment.

“Geographical indi­ca­tions indi­cat­ing a prod­uct iden­ti­fied with its region or coun­try due to its dis­tinc­tive qual­ity and other fea­tures pro­vide added value to the brand­ing of the prod­uct and the region’s eco­nomic devel­op­ment,” he said.

“We will intro­duce Aydın Memecik Zeytinyağı – which has a high export value now with the PDO and pro­vides added value to our province’s econ­omy – to the whole world by pro­tect­ing it from imi­ta­tions,” Çondur added.

Aydın Memecik Zeytinyağı will become the province’s third reg­is­tered PDO if con­firmed. Previously, locally-grown chest­nuts and figs received pro­tec­tion from the European Union. Local author­i­ties have also applied for new pine nut and table olive PDOs.

At a national level, Turkey already has 12 prod­ucts with a Protected Designation of Origin cer­ti­fi­ca­tion and two oth­ers with a Protected Geographical Indication, includ­ing two extra vir­gin olive oils.

Milas PDO was the first to be reg­is­tered in December 2020. In July 2023, E.U. author­i­ties approved the reg­is­tra­tion of the Edremit PDO.

Authorities are wait­ing for approval and are apply­ing for 15 new PGIs and 30 new PDOS, includ­ing Kilis PDO extra vir­gin olive oil. The appli­ca­tion was sub­mit­ted in January 2023.

• Haber