{"id":8681,"date":"2023-10-22T22:48:59","date_gmt":"2023-10-22T22:48:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crynfiction.com\/?p=8681"},"modified":"2023-10-22T22:48:59","modified_gmt":"2023-10-22T22:48:59","slug":"olive-oil-under-threat-due-to-a-bacteria-killing-trees-in-the-mediterranean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crynfiction.com\/everyday-meals\/olive-oil-under-threat-due-to-a-bacteria-killing-trees-in-the-mediterranean\/","title":{"rendered":"Olive oil under threat due to a bacteria killing trees in the Mediterranean"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Olive oil could be under threat due to a strain of bacteria which is killing trees in the Mediterranean.<\/p>\n

Food writer Sophie Grigson said one part of Italy that has been hit by the disease looks like a \u201cnuclear war\u201d with \u201cfield after field of dead trees\u201d.<\/p>\n

The celebrity cook, who lives in Puglia, Italy, said the whole Mediterranean could end up losing olive oil if a solution is not found.<\/p>\n

Speaking on the My Time Capsule podcast, she said: \u201cThe olive tree is so important to the Mediterranean culture but it\u2019s under threat. It\u2019s a total tragedy. Puglian olive trees have been decimated by a \u00adbacteria called Xylella.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven in the four years that I have been here, it\u2019s moving up the Puglian provincia.\u201d Xylella is a bacterium that limits a tree\u2019s ability to move water and nutrients, so over time it dies.<\/p>\n

Grigson, 64, added: \u201cIt\u2019s destroyed such a huge area, someone said to me it\u2019s destroyed millions of trees already. It\u2019s devastating. I live in the centre of Puglia. If you drive towards the south \u2013 about 10km from me \u2013 you start seeing the trees with Xylella.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you drive towards Lecce, the main town in the south of Puglia, it\u2019s like there has been some kind of nuclear war. There\u2019s just field after field of dead trees.\u201d Grigson said Xylella has recently hit Greece and although money has been pumped into research, she suspects it is \u201cnot enough\u201d.<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cIf they don\u2019t work out how to at least control it, the whole of the Mediterranean will end up losing their olive trees. I want the world to know we need to preserve the olive oil and the olive tree.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grigson said actress Helen Mirren, 78, has also been campaigning, adding: \u201cI hope she will carry on doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mirren has a holiday home in Tiggiano, Italy, and has often discussed the outbreak.<\/p>\n