Laura Leon for The New York Times  A farm worker with a machine that shakes the branches of olives trees in Seville, Spain, to make the olives fall to the ground. More Photos »  MADRID â Every morning, cafes here fill up with people enjoying a typical Spanish breakfast, including pouring olive oil out of a plain glass cruet onto a slice of toasted bread.  The traditional cruet, however, will be replaced by a labeled, sealed and nonreusable bottle or other type of container under stricter oil bottling rules that take effect on Wednesday.  Spain is the worldâs largest producer of olive oil. The new regulations were created mainly to improve food hygiene. But oil producers also hope the rules will help them build stronger recognition for their brands and even bolster sales and exports to markets like the United States, where Spanish oil has played second fiddle to Italyâs.  Spain acted on its own after Germany and other North European countries, which consume but do not produce olive oil, blocked a proposal by the European Commission last spring to impose such legislation across the 28-nation European Union.  Northern countries said tougher rules would produce both additional costs and more waste, with used and half-empty bottles thrown out rather than reused. David Cameron, the British prime minister, also pilloried the regulatory plan as evidence of unnecessary interventionism by Brussels bureaucrats. Olive oil, Mr. Cameron claimed last May, is âexactly the sort of area that the European Union needs to get right out of, in my view.â  A similar debate has taken place within Spain. But it has been more subdued because the Madrid government clearly sided with oil producers, saying stricter rules would raise health safety, by guaranteeing the oilâs authenticity, as well as give consumers an opportunity to identify the quality and origin of their oil.  Producers have struggled to raise brand awareness among consumers â and hence the value of their product â even in the olive heartland of Andalusia, in southern Spain.  âTraceability is important for food security, but we must also make people much more aware that olive oil is not something banal, but instead noble and very special,â said Ãlvaro OlavarrÃ­a, the managing director of Oleoestepa. The company has annual revenue of 75 million euros, or about $103 million, and claims to have been the first Spanish producer to sell olive oil in nonreusable bottles, just over a decade ago.  The Spanish hotel federation, which represents over 100,000 businesses, has opposed the stricter rules, echoing the recent concerns in Germany and other northern countries.  With Spain recently emerging from a two-year recession but still struggling with anemic household spending, âweâre facing an unjustified and unnecessary change that adds costs at the wrong time,â said Emilio Gallego Zuazo, the secretary general of the federation.  Cafe owners now generally fill their cruets from five-liter plastic containers. The labeling rules do not apply to olive oil used within the kitchen, but the cost of the oil that has been offered in cruets is likely to increase three- to fivefold, depending on what alternative bottling and labeling is selected, according to Mr. Gallego Zuazo.  Some restaurants may decide to charge for premium olive oil, but most are expected to continue providing bottled oil free. Another, perhaps cheaper, option is to switch to single-serve packets like those used for ketchup or mayonnaise.  The olive oil sector disputes any doomsday financial forecasts. Primitivo FernÃ¡ndez, the director of Anierac, Spainâs national association of bottlers and distributors of olive oil, calculated that the cost of a regular breakfast should increase by as little as a euro cent, which would also be less onerous than the cost of past packaging reforms for other produce like butter. As to the concern over waste, Mr. FernÃ¡ndez said that âif weâre really worried about environmental damage, then let us talk first about problems like the bottling of Coca-Cola.â  Over all, Mr. FernÃ¡ndez said, âthe consumer has until now had no idea where the oil comes from, whether it has been blended or even how to complain if the taste isnât right or fraud is suspected.â  Some upmarket establishments have broken ranks with the hospitality sector, welcoming the bottling rules as part of their efforts to raise the reputation of Spanish gastronomy.
The rules are aimed at improving food hygiene, by banning refillable bottles at restaurants, but oil producers also hope to build stronger brand recognition.