OIL IN THE RESTAURANT: 1 OUT OF 4 IS NOT UNDER STANDARD. WHAT THE LAW SAYS AND WHAT THE SANCTIONS
Anti-topping caps - From 25 November 2014, restaurants, bars and public establishments must present at the table only bottles of virgin and extra virgin olive oil with anti-topping cap.
This is established by law 161/2014 published in the Official Gazette which in article 18, paragraph 1 c) says: "Virgin olive oils offered in packages in public establishments, without prejudice to cooking and meal preparation uses, must be presented in containers labeled in accordance with current legislation , equipped with a suitable closure device so that the contents cannot be changed without the package being opened or altered and equipped with a protection system that does not allow reuse after the exhaustion of the original content indicated on the label ".
The envisaged sanction varies from 1,000 to 8,000 euros , with confiscation of the product. The law does not provide for any adjustment time, not even for the exhaustion of stocks in the warehouse.
The bottles of extra virgin olive oil brought to the table to your customers, who ask you to dress the salad or the steak yourself, cannot be refilled once empty.
The 2014 decree banned the classic glass cruets and introduced the obligation of the anti-topping cap . A measure that has been at the center of controversy several times.
The intention of the law is to guarantee transparency and maximum safety for the consumer, considering that the custom of filling the table cruets in some restaurants has turned over the years into an attempt to scam : to sell poor quality oil as extra virgin. olive.
The motivation (restaurateur side) certainly does not need explanations, as far as the government's intention is clear: the law wants to protect oil producers, Made-in-Italy and the economy that it moves, but also the restaurateurs themselves. that can stand out by offering excellent and certified products.
Yet 1 in 4 restaurateurs (given by Coldiretti) has not changed his habits: use the finished oil bottles by filling them.
It is not certain that the oil used to top up the oil tank is poor: however, using a different oil (even if only for the time of collection or bottling) is wrong.
The labels on the package provide the indications of origin, as well as the expiry date and all the information on the time of harvest.
If a different oil is used - even from the same manufacturer - the information on the label can no longer be considered truthful. By law, this is a fraud, punishable by administrative penalties and the confiscation of the product.
It is forbidden to fill bottles with oil
The oil containers that are placed on the tables of public establishments must be intact and contain only and exclusively the product indicated on the label , which clearly and legibly reports its origin and expiry date.
It is no coincidence that the European Union has set very strict rules on the labeling of extra virgin olive oil to stem the phenomenon of "fake oil scams".
That of olive oil imported and sold as Made-in-Italy, or oil that is not extra virgin but is counterfeited and sold as such, is a war fought with ever lower blows by the big brands and foreign producers who they would like to export substandard products at out-of-market prices.
It is for these reasons that the law has introduced the obligation of the anti-refill cap.
