THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The European Union is to ban olive oil jugs and dipping bowls from restaurant tables in a move described by one of Britain's top cooks as authoritarian and damaging to artisanal food makers.
The small glass jugs filled with green or gold coloured extra virgin olive oil are familiar and traditional for restaurant goers across Europe but they will be banned from 1 January 2014 after a decision taken in an obscure Brussels committee earlier this week.
From next year olive oil "presented at a restaurant table" must be in pre-packaged, factory bottles with a tamper-proof dispensing nozzle and labelling in line with EU industrial standards.
The use of classic, refillable glass jugs or glazed terracotta dipping bowls and the choice of a restaurateur to buy olive oil from a small artisan producer or family business will be outlawed. » | Bruno Waterfield, Brussels | Friday, May 17, 2013
