It started with a food scare in Portugal nine years ago, and it ended last week in high farce in Brussels.
The subject of the furore was a Europe-wide ban on what – until now – had never seemed much of a transgression: the practice of restaurants serving olive oil in jugs or dipping bowls.
Critics called the ban “bonkers” and “barmy”; its proponents said it was vital to stop unscrupulous restaurateurs passing off cheap oil as the more expensive extra virgin variety.
The upshot was restaurants would have to spend a small fortune buying in specially prepared bottles of tamper-proof olive oil to serve to customers, many of whom had never realised there was a problem in the first place.
The Sunday Telegraph can today piece together the tale of the Great Open Bottle Olive Oil Ban. It is a story of vested interests, powerful lobbyists and an apparent failure of democratic accountability.
It involves a byzantine voting system known as comitology – of which more later – which allows bureaucrats to vote in secret. Full story...
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The subject of the furore was a Europe-wide ban on what – until now – had never seemed much of a transgression: the practice of restaurants serving olive oil in jugs or dipping bowls.
Critics called the ban “bonkers” and “barmy”; its proponents said it was vital to stop unscrupulous restaurateurs passing off cheap oil as the more expensive extra virgin variety.
The upshot was restaurants would have to spend a small fortune buying in specially prepared bottles of tamper-proof olive oil to serve to customers, many of whom had never realised there was a problem in the first place.
The Sunday Telegraph can today piece together the tale of the Great Open Bottle Olive Oil Ban. It is a story of vested interests, powerful lobbyists and an apparent failure of democratic accountability.
It involves a byzantine voting system known as comitology – of which more later – which allows bureaucrats to vote in secret. Full story...
Related posts:
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