The southern brand "Olive Garden" has reached the global stage with two exceptional awards: the Quality Award as one of the Top Ten Limited Production Extra Virgin Olive Oil Producers at the EVOOLEUM Awards 2024, and the award for the Best Lebanese Producers of Extra Virgin Olive Oil for the Year 2023 in the Extra Virgin Olive Oil World Ranking (EVOOWR). "Olive Garden" won the EVOOLEUM Awards 2024 for its "Itrana" olive oil, thus being included in the EVOOLEUM 2024 global reference and guide for the world's top one hundred products, exclusively published by the Spanish magazine Mercacei, which specializes in global olive cultivation and industry and is recognized by the Spanish Association of Olive Tree Cultivation (AEMO). The brand has been included in the EVOOWR global ranking since 2018.
This additional qualitative achievement has placed Lebanon on the global ranking map among 37 countries producing the finest extra virgin olive oils, thanks to a series of global awards won in four highly competitive competitions. In addition to the 2024 EVOOLEUM Awards held in Spain, it has received three global gold awards for 2023, including the prestigious NYIOOC 2023 award for olive oil quality in New York, the OLIVE JAPAN 2023 international competition for extra virgin olive oil in Tokyo, Japan, and the EVO-IOOC 2023 international competition for extra virgin olive oil in Italy.
Waleed Mashneef, the owner of "Olive Garden," stated: "Thanks to our commitment to quality and compliance with established standards, we have achieved an additional award and a new global ranking in less than a year since the previous gold awards. This drives us to take pride in Lebanese olive oil and the pioneering role Lebanon plays in a promising vital sector. Over the years, we, along with several Lebanese producers, have contributed to creating a productive economic sector, fostering a spirit of competition nationally, as well as shaping the potential, knowledge, and expertise, in addition to innovating the vital foundations for developing the production of extra virgin olive oil in Lebanon. We have never been deterred by consecutive crises, challenges, lack of support, declining living conditions, or the repercussions of climate change in preserving the spirit of this sector and maintaining its cultural heritage and economic value."
He pointed out that "this year's harvest season was not easy, as we had to work against the imposed adverse conditions, whether security, climatic, or economic factors, which exacerbated the difficulties. However, we persisted in our determination to harvest the season to maintain Lebanon's deserved competitive position on the global stage among the best producers of extra virgin olive oil."
He emphasized that "we have adhered since our inception to the principle of quality as a fixed value, even at the expense of quantity, as ensuring quality requires specific stages and essential production standards that cannot be compromised. Just as maintaining a working mechanism that integrates heritage and modernity is essential to guarantee the highest standards of quality and safety."
