No more olive oil decanters in bars… ever

As I promised would happen, olive oil decanters have been banned in bars, starting the 1st of January 2014.

The measure, which was going to be EU wide until it was laughed out of the commission by the UK and Holland.

So Spain has gone ahead and imposed the measure.

Only olive oil bottles with “anti-refillable” tops can be used, or monodosis capsules. Lovely. If you can prove you bought the stuff before the 1st of Jan, you can carry on using it until the 28th of Feb, at which point – throw the decanter away. Fines will be levied, etc.

The measure is basically because the large olive oil companies don´t want the local competition from small producers. So by introducing this measure they hope to drive the small producers out of direct sales, and force them to sell their wares to the big boys for mass consumption.

A wonderful quote from the Ministry: “Olive Oil is a product of Quality, and tourists from abroad may only encounter it in bars and restaurants when they visit Spain. We must therefore ensure that they only find the best for them to take away the best impression of Spanish Oil.”