Italian olive oil scandal

by Shayna Glick (Subscribe to Shayna Glick's posts)
Posted Apr 23rd 2008 6:01PM
Filed under: Newspapers, Italy

Well, the reputation of Italian products has been suffering lately, and this latest news on olive oil doesn't help. Apparently a counterfeit olive oil ring was busted. They had been exporting "soya beans or sunflower seeds - some of it genetically modified - mixed with beta carotene and industrial chlorophyll" all dressed up as authentic Italian olive oil.

Police arrested 39 people and confiscated 25,000 liters of the fake oil. The authorities say the good news is that proper checks and new labeling laws are working to catch these counterfeiters. However some people in the Italian olive oil industry are worried that consumers will compare Italian products with the recent fiasco of Chinese exports. The prosecutor who ordered the arrests did say that the oil wasn't harmful, but that it was produced in facilities which weren't checked by the health department.

Unfortunately some people are always going to be on the lookout for ways to make a quick buck. All we can do is hope to not get caught up in it, or that it won't hurt us if we do.

Tags: counterfeit, Italy, olive oil, OliveOil

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

4-23-2008 @ 9:44PM

badfrog said...

This has been going on for years on an industrial scale. Five or six years ago oil was found to have been adulterated with solvents, among other hydrocarbons.

In spite of their oh-so-carefully cultivated robin hood image, the Mafia and other criminal syndicates are just that--amoral crooks. As long as they get theirs, they don't care who gets hurt.

Personally, I find Italian olive oil to be to light; I prefer the more earthy Spanish and Portuguese oils, which, even better, are considerably less expensive.

4-24-2008 @ 5:11AM

Dimitris Kakaletris said...

Italy does not have enough oil for its own people consuption and they have been buying oil from other countries for years, mixing it up with other low quality oils and colours and selling it as Italian extra virgin oil. I come from Greece and my family produces approx. 700lts of oil each year, we keep some for our own consumption and most of the rest goes to Italy. They making a huge profit from fake olive oil. I think people should think twice when buying Italian olive oil again and try other very good quality oils from Greece, Spain, Tunisia, Turkey, etc
D.K
Prague

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