Consumer Perception for Olive Oil and Its Application in Chinese Cuisines 
Lei Wang1, Jian Zhang2, Shanshan Jia2, Yong Wang1, Yuanrong Jiang1, 1Wilmar (Shanghai) Biotechnology Research & Development Center Co., Ltd, China, 2Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, China 

Olive oil consumption by Chinese dates back to 2005. Since then, olive oil has been regarded as premium products although only small amount was comsumed, compared to 30 million metric tons total consumption of the oils in China. However, the import of olive oil has experienced a dramatic increase recently. According to IOC( International Olive Council) and Chinese Customs’ data, though in the past two years, the global production of olive oil has been reduced from 3.27 (2013/14)to 2.39 milion metric tons (2014/15), the Chinese import was boosted from 29 to 39 thousand metric tons. The increase rate was 8.3%. 

Considering the short comsumption history, as well as the significant import increase, Wilmar and CDC (Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention) has implemented a consumers’ survey about the local consumers perception of olive oil in 9 Chinese cities in 2013. This survey examined awareness and attitudes toward olive oil among 1023 Chinese consumers. Results indicate that consumers are lack of nutritional knowledge about olive oil, aware of limited cooking application and lable information. The price and the brand are the most influential facors when pruchasing olive oils, and the premier reasons(20~40%) for unwillingness to buy are difficulty to choose, besides the high price.

This survey offers insights into consumer attitudes toward olive oil, and the necessity to educate the consumer with proper olive oil usage in Chinese cuisines. With the cooperation with Culinery School of Yangzhou University, China, the olive oil’s applications in the Chinese cuisines have been investigated from the oil quality and the food taste. The extra virgin olive oil is recommended for low temperature cooking or short-time high temperature cooking, for instance, salad and Chinese wok with vegetables. The olive oil, a blend of extra virgin and refined olive oil, is approporiate for multiple-purpose applications, fry and bakery as an example.