Massive Fraud in Italian Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Illustration by Nicholas Blechman, New York Times
Journalist Tom Mueller’s research estimates that 50% of oil sold as “extra virgin” in Italy and 75-80% that of in U.S. does not meet the legal grades for “extra-virgin”.
Common types of fraud:
Mixing with lower quality olive oil from North America / around Mediterranean
Seed oil such as Sunflower oil added with chlorophyll and beta-carotene, made to look and smell like olive oil
Suggestions for customers:
Look closely to label, for major producing city in Italy, e.g. Sicily / Puglia
Online shopping from trustworthy producers
Look for products sold in reasonable price
Use local freshly made and shipped olive oil instead
Enjoi comments:
France, Italy, Portugal and Spain produce around three-quarters of world’s olive oil, however the Europe’s olive harvest was hit hard in 2014 by bad weather and blight, the bulk price of extra virgin olive oil jumped more than 3 euros from 2.7 to 6.
It provides the opportunity for the Mafia to get involve in this liquid-gold business. The food supply chain‘s technology should have ability to trace and prevent this massive fraud. But now it is obviously not doing a good job.
Consumers need to understand that you now need to pay more and look more carefully when buying genuine Extra Virgin Olive Oil, particularly those from Italy. Or simply buy Enjoi Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Premium quality from Australian. Excellent storage conditions, strict production procedure, not affect by the weather and infestation in Europe.
Read Also:
2. Olive Oil Times - Mafia Control of Olive Oil the Topic of ’60 Minutes’ Report
3. Olive Oil Times - An ‘Interactive’ Lesson in Olive Oil Fraud
4. Food Logistics - '60 Minutes' Exposes Italy’s Olive Oil Fraud
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