Bill Monroe, Pompeian's CEO, Has an "FYI" for the Queen of "EVOO".

BALTIMORE -- Rachael Ray may be the undisputed queen of EVOO but who's the king?

Bill Monroe says he is. When he heard that Ray's acronym for extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) was recognized by the Oxford American Dictionaries, he said, "Oh?"

Bill Monroe, the CEO of Pompeian, a 100-year-old olive oil company, is known throughout the olive oil industry as the "King of All Olive Oil" or "KAOO." His renown is because Monroe made extra virgin olive oil a household word two decades ago when he introduced Bertolli olive oil to the nation and then revolutionized the industry with its line extensions: "POO" (pure olive oil) and "ELOO" (extra light olive oil). Monroe did all this and founded and chaired the NAOOA (North American Olive Oil Association).

Enter Rachael Ray, the hot TV talk show host, who loves to cook with EVOO but hates to repeat the phrase "extra virgin olive oil." She began to evoke EVOO on her TV show, and her publicist termed it one of her "Rachael-isms." Ray is quoted at famousfoods.com as saying, "I first coined 'EVOO' on my cooking show because...I'm an impatient girl..."

But the CEO has an FYI for the fast menu queen.

"EVOO was coined a long time ago, maybe as early as 1916 according to one contributor to the American Dialect Society," stated Monroe. "In fact, Google has over 130,000 references to EVOO that don't refer to Rachael Ray. There's even an EVOO restaurant that opened in Massachusetts in 1998. And there are numerous scientific papers such as the Journal of the American Oil Chemists' Society article from May 2003, which examined 'the effects of two monounsaturated fatty acid-rich oils, extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO) and high-oleic sunflower oil (HOSO), on platelet aggregation' in women."

In this alphabet soup is there room for a King and Queen of EVOO? Time will tell. Pompeian is already one of the top selling brands according to the latest sales figures, while Rachael Ray's new signature EVOO line is just being introduced to consumers.

Perhaps, to keep peace, Oxford American Dictionaries should recognize "POO" and "ELOO."

For further information about Pompeian, Inc., a leader in olive oils, fine vinegars, and cooking wine since 1906, please visit: www.pompeian.com.