Since the beginning of 2020 and with the rapid spread of the Sars-Cov2 virus, the global corona pandemic has been the dominant topic in our society for the second year in a row.
We have experienced and also learned a lot in the past months. Private as well as public life suddenly came to a standstill and our home became an office for a longer period of time. Against this backdrop, we now handle a wide variety of digital "tools" as if we had never done it any other way. Would you have thought that a year ago?
In such a time of change and uncertainty, it is important to also be able to rely on some constants. In a way, the Olive Oil Award Zurich is also such a constant. It has accompanied the team of the Food Sensory Research Group at the ZHAW for almost 20 years now and is a recurring highlight in our work every year.
This year, we are particularly pleased about the enormous number of participants, a total of 137 olive oils from 10 different nations (plus the European Union). Unimpressed by the global crisis, the 2020 harvest has probably been a particularly good one for producers of high-quality olive oils. This is also reflected in this year's results.
In the period March / April 2021, the Swiss Olive Oil Panel SOP has therefore evaluated all these oils by means of a long-established multi-stage test procedure and was thus able to determine the winners 2021.
I would like to give you a small preview: This year, the OlIO consumer test will be conducted as a "home-use test". The oils participating in the Olive Oil Award 2021 will be tested by at least 60 consumers throughout Switzerland. This procedure offers us the possibility, even in a time when there may be no fairs and events, to create a broad and solid data base, for the determination of this year's public favorites.