The event, that gathered around 50 representatives of ministries, NGO's, producers and research centres coming from Jordan, Palestine and Israel, was designed to include both theoretical and practical sessions on clean olive oil production, waste management and water treatment:
On day one, several international experts from major olive oil producers (Spain, Italy and Greece) presented the national experience on those issues, with a special focus on the mill technologies (2 phases vs 3 phases) and reuse of liquid and solid waste in the production cycle (through biomass, composting, additional refinery…). A Lebanese expert also presented the benefits of organic and geographical certifications to improve the quality and competitiveness of the olive oil sector.
During the second day, several researchers and consultants from participating countries presented diverse national or regional projects to improve the waste management of the olive oil production. Additionally, one official representative from each country shared their existing national plans on this issue and finally a group exercise allowed the participants to mix and draft together innovative programs for a more sustainable olive oil industry.
On the last day, the participants had the opportunity to visit a major Olive Oil factory (Jordan Modern Food Industries, Manaseer Group) near Amman that is producing premium olive oil (Terra Rosa brand) for the export sector (Terra Rosa).
All the training materiel can be downloaded using the following link:
http://www.h2020.net/en/resources/training-materials/viewcategory/293.html