Outreach

Olive Oil fraud is an issue that affects many stakeholders, from consumer to olive grower. Developing effective methods for quality control, and understanding stakeholder needs is critical to solving this problem. We set aside our research several times throughout the summer to explore stakeholder needs and understand quality issues in the olive oil industry at a deeper level. We visited the largest olive oil producers in the United States to discover what quality control methods were already in place, and what they thought the industry needed to advance. To discover if the public would change buying habits in response to accessible quality control, we conducted several olive oil tastings at a local Grocer and collected data. We attended a hearing regarding the passage of the first quality control legislation for Olive Oil in the State of California to understand demand for quality control amongst multiple groups of stakeholders. Finally, we recapitulated the impact that our understanding of stakeholder needs had on our project in final summary.