Our Quality Standards

Producing the perfect olive oil is no easy task.

THE QUALITY OF FILIPPO BERIO

In every deliciously rich bottle of Filippo Berio olive oil lies 150 years of skilled craftsmanship. We treat our heritage with great care, ensuring Filippo Berio’s signature today represents the same uncompromising quality that our founder intended.

In fact, strict quality control standards are applied at every stage of the product process: from the sourcing of olives to the harvesting, pressing, blending and bottling of the final product.

When you open a bottle of Filippo Berio, you will taste our commitment to:

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Sourcing

The SALOV Group operates across the Mediterranean area following stringent criteria to ensure consistent olive oil excellence. For decades SALOV has worked with the same growers, building strong relationships based on long-term trust and mutual respect.

THE MEDITERRANEAN AREA

While Italian olive oil is famous around the world for its flavor, other Mediterranean countries with a history and tradition of olive growing, such as Spain, Greece and Tunisia are also famous for their distinctive oils.

Regardless of where the olives actually come from, quality oil can only be attained by following best agronomic and technological practices. SALOV’s growers are carefully selected based on these factors and many more to ensure a quality olive oil blend.

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SAMPLING & SELECTING

Filippo Berio’s highly experienced tasters sample 6,000 olive oils each year, yet only 6% are actually selected to become Filippo Berio olive oil. During the selection process, two stages of analysis must be passed in order for an olive oil to be considered Extra Virgin.

CHEMICAL & ORGANOLEPTIC ANALYSIS

A chemical analysis involving twenty different parameters (including acidity and fat composition). An organoleptic analysis predicts how well the oil will blend and age. This test can only be carried out by skilled blenders with finely honed human senses, which is why there are no less than eight highly experienced professionals on the Filippo Berio Quality Control Team. Further tests are carried out in SALOV’s in-house laboratories on all raw materials and production processes to ensure continuous monitoring and improvement.

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BLENDING

Once the samples have been selected, their distinctive flavors are blended together to achieve Filippo Berio’s signature taste and character. The blending process is one of the most critical stages in olive oil production. Knowing how to blend fruity, sweet, bitter and peppery flavors into a harmonious oil is an art form that relies almost entirely on age-old tradition, experience and skill. For this reason, Filippo Berio’s blenders are famous around the world for their invaluable expertise and talent.

The Salov Plant

If there was one thing for which Filippo Berio was particularly proud of it was the exceptional quality of his olive oils. He worked hard to ensure that each bottle was made from the best olives using ‘tried and true’ production methods.
Today his stringent quality standards are still applied at every stage of the production process, which takes place in SALOV’s state-of-the-art production facility just outside Lucca, Italy.

Completed in 2006, the plant is equipped with a comprehensive testing laboratory, an operation refinery, a raw material storage silos, an extensive multi-format packaging line and a unique tri-generation system to reduce the impact of production activities on the environment. To this end, SALOV is continuously committed to increasing sustainability and reducing its carbon footprint.

QUALITY CERTIFICATIONS

All production processes are regularly subject to methodical verification by experts and accredited external certification boards to guarantee the quality of Filippo Berio products.

Apart from its own rigorous standards and tests designed to enhance the quality of its oils, SALOV is also certified by the ISO – one of the leading quality control organizations as well as the British Retail Consortium (BRI) and the International Food Standard (IFS). Filippo Berio is also certified Kosher.

The high standards of SALOV are witnessed by the numerous certifications that concern not only the quality of products but also of the plant and the processes, as well as the care and attention paid to the environment and the health and safety of workers.

The SALOV Group must meet the requirements specified in “Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points” (“HACCP”): the obligation to follow HACCP for all companies operating in the food industry in Italy was introduced in 1997.

Consistently with its uncompromised approach to quality, SALOV management has set quality standards that go beyond HACCP rules. It executes regular and accurate quality controls to check that these standards are strictly respected.

Process certifications

Product certifications