After an ever-growing success in 2006, the 8th edition of SIAL China has opened its doors to all F&B professionals on May 10, 2007 on three halls at Shanghai New International Expo Centre. It promises to be again a successful platform for trading operations to both national and international players of the industry.

Among the numerous activities at SIAL China, many of them are dealing with two original Mediterranean treasures: olive oil and wine. As different as wine and olive oil are, they also share similarities—and if there are wine connoisseurs, there are also olive oil connoisseurs.

In terms of business and image, olive oil is taking much the same route as wine - progressing from a "simple" condiment into a product held in high regard for its infinite flavours and strong links with territory of origin, as well as its benefits for health. More and more people in Asia and China every day enjoy the gold-green taste-bouquet and the hedonistic pleasures of olive oil are already widely known in the Middle Kingdom.

For the third time in its history, SIAL China organized in cooperation with the International Olive Oil Council (IOOC) the unique olive oil competition on the Asian continent: OlivAsia. The competition rules and organization of the tastings were based on international standards set by the IOOC in order to determine —similar to wines— the quality of each competing olive oil according to different factors such as the type and blend of olives, fruit maturity and harvest, production, pressing and storage.

SIAL China is proud to announce that Mr. Habib Essid, Executive Director of IOOC participated for the first time in the event and presided over the awards ceremony on May 10th. Mrs. Christine Cheylan, President of OlivAsia came for the third time in a row to represent the board of directors.

For two days before SIAL China officially opened, an international jury has tasted more than 85 different olive oils from 13 countries representing a close to +20% increase in terms of samples compared to 2006 and selected finally 10 winners in three different categories. The results were announced during the Opening Ceremony of the 8th edition of SIAL China, in presence of the trade press and key decision makers for the food retailing sector and the hotel and restaurant industry.