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Italian olive oil scandal: seven top brands 'sold fake extra-virgin'
The investigation, the latest scandal to hit Italy's lucrative food and drink sector, involves seven well-known producers accused of passing off virgin olive oil as extra-virgin
Seven of Italy’s best-known olive oil companies are being investigated for allegedly conning consumers by passing off inferior quality virgin olive oil as extra-virgin.
The alleged fraud was first discovered by an Italian consumer magazine in May and then investigated by the authorities.
They announced this week that of 20 brands tested in the laboratory by specialists from the Italian customs agency, nine were found to be lower quality oil.
The producers caught up in the investigation include big names such as Bertolli, Santa Sabina, Primadonna, which is sold through the discount supermarket chain Lidl, and Antica Badia, which is sold through another cheap supermarket chain, Eurospin. The others are Carapelli, Coricelli and Sasso.
They are accused of passing off the slightly lower quality virgin olive oil as extra-virgin – the highest quality and the most expensive.
Extra-virgin oil is made by crushing the olives soon after they are picked in a process that involves no chemicals, heat or industrial refining.
Virgin olive oil is cheaper and generally more acidic.
The alleged fraud is now being investigated by prosecutors based in Turin.
“The damage caused by this deceit is enormous, not just for consumers but also for the entire country and for the image of products that are made in Italy,” said Rosario Trefiletti, the president of Federconsumatori, a consumer association.
“It’s a shameful business that requires prompt action by the authorities.”
Maurizio Martina, the agriculture minister, said it was important for the investigation to proceed in order to “protect consumers, as well as the thousands of honest olive oil producers” in Italy.
“For months now we have been increasing quality controls. In 2014 our inspectors carried out 6,000 checks and confiscated oil worth 10 million euros. It’s vital to protect a sector as important as that of olive oil,” the minister said.
Italy is the world’s second largest producer of oil, after Spain.
Puglia is the most productive region, followed by Calabria and Sicily, all in the south of the country.
Codacons, Italy’s principal consumer association, said people who had bought the lower quality oil should be entitled to compensation from the companies involved.
“We invite any family that bought oil from any of the firms caught up in the investigation to demand compensation of up to 5,000 euros,” said Carlo Rienzi, the association’s president.
“If these offences are proven, the cost to consumers is enormous – not only the betrayal of trust but also the economic damage for people who have paid extra for an inferior product.”
Coldiretti, an organisation representing Italian farmers, said consumers should be suspicious of oil purporting to be extra-virgin that sold for just a few euros a bottle.
One of the companies under investigation disputed the analysis carried out first by the consumer magazine, called “Il Test”, and then by the authorities, saying they were based only on taste tests.
“These analyses, although carried out by professional tasters, are now widely considered not sufficient to evaluate the quality of an olive oil,” Coricelli said in a statement.
The firm said it had already launched legal action against the analysis conducted by the consumer publication and would “submit all the appropriate counter-analysis to prosecutors in Turin which will confirm that (our) behaviour was fair and correct.”
Italy has long-standing and seemingly endemic problems with fraud in its lucrative food and drink sector.
Air-dried ham produced in Eastern Europe is sometimes passed off as Italian prosciutto and buffalo mozzarella has been found to be made from cow’s milk rather than that of water buffaloes.
If the olive harvest is poor, oil is frequently supplemented with supplies from countries such as Greece and Tunisia, but sold as 100 per cent Italian.
In 2011 it was found that four out of five bottles of ‘Italian’ olive oil contained oil from other Mediterranean countries.
An investigation by customs officers and the Guardia di Finanza, or fraud squad, revealed that unscrupulous producers were mixing in oil from Greece, Spain, Morocco and Tunisia and passing it off as Italian.
“It’s a very widespread problem and it is on the increase,” Elga Baviera, a biologist and expert on food safety, told Adnkronos, an Italian news agency.
“The food production business is full of scams, notwithstanding the efforts of authorities to contain the phenomenon. It’s a business worth billions of euros a year.”