Outreach

Olive Oil fraud is an issue that affects many stakeholders, from consumer to olive grower. After our initial needs assessment conducted by discussion with the UC Davis Olive oil institute, we set aside our research throughout the summer to explore stakeholder needs further. 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 and collected data from several olive oil tastings at a local Grocer. 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 of our understanding of stakeholder needs on our project in a final Summary.