The growing olive oil scandal

If you, like me, enjoy cooking with olive oil, or using it in salads, you're probably aware that the scale of the international olive oil scandal is getting mind-bogglingly large. For those who aren't aware of it, here are a few links to illustrate the scale of the problem, with a brief extract from each article to illustrate their content.


February 26th, 2012: The Toronto Star, Canada - "Why the olive oil in your salad dressing may be a fraud"

A University of California Davis study found 69 per cent of imported oil to the United States failed to meet international standards for extra-virgin olive oil.

Mueller said the biggest culprits are six big Spanish and Portuguese bottling companies, which have driven down the price of olive oil to about 1.80 euro per litre — an “impossible” low price. Five years ago, it would have cost 5 euro. “Massive, massive loss of value,” that drives the price down and hurts producers, said Mueller.

“They’re making money off of substandard oil that they’re selling as extra-virgin,” said Mueller. “Consumers don’t benefit; they’re being ripped off, and honest producers are being undercut unfairly because a substandard product, which costs a lot less, is being sold under the same label as their good oil.”

January 14th, 2012: The Daily Mail, UK - "Fraud and intimidation: The unpalatable truth about your supposedly extra virgin olive oil"

The most common fraud involves diluting extra virgin oil with a lesser grade — such as lampante, or lamp-oil, judged unfit for human consumption because of its high acid content.

Another option is to substitute a different type of oil entirely, often originating outside the EU where production is cheaper.

Last year, two Spanish businessmen were sent to prison for selling extra virgin olive oil that turned out to be 75 per cent sunflower oil, while Mueller recounts the story of a shipment of Turkish hazelnut oil which, after a voyage around Europe, arrived in southern Italy in September 1991 with papers declaring it was Greek olive oil.

There it was mixed with the real thing, and sold to unsuspecting customers including Nestle, owners of Buitoni oil, and Bertolli for use in their products.

December 30th, 2011: The Wall Street Journal, USA - "Can American Virginity Be Saved?"

American grocery stores are awash in cheap, fake “extra virgins.” Consumers buy them thinking they’re getting fresh-squeezed olive oil, the core of the Mediterranean diet, but instead get stale, defective oil with dubious health and nutritional benefits. Most is imported from the EU, particularly from Spain, Italy, and Greece. These countries make many of the best olive oils in the world, but the average quality of their exports, to the USA and elsewhere, is low ... Many food service “extra virgins” aren’t made from olives at all, but consist largely of lower-priced seed oils like soybean and sunflower.

April 22nd, 2008: The Guardian, UK - "Italy embarrassed by counterfeit olive oil scandal"

It looked like extra virgin olive oil. It even tasted and smelt like extra virgin olive oil. But the alluring, yellowy green liquid that consumers in Germany, Switzerland and the US would have trickled over their salads was actually oil made from soya beans or sunflower seeds - some of it genetically modified - mixed with beta carotene and industrial chlorophyll.

After the discovery in recent months of dioxin in mozzarella and added ethanol in wine, officials yesterday hastened to reassure consumers in the wake of yet another Italian food scandal. On Monday, police arrested 39 people and impounded more than 25,000 litres of counterfeit extra virgin oil. It was due to be exported, or marketed in Italy, in bottles bearing the labels of non-existent companies.

I could go on for page after page of such links, but I guess these few articles give you an idea of how serious the problem has become. Briefly, if you're buying olive oil today without knowing what you're doing, the odds of you being cheated by fake or adulterated products are very high indeed - probably better than three or four to one against you. Certainly, if you're paying less than $10 per liter or quart (in the USA) for olive oil, the chances are very high that you're buying sub-standard oil. That certainly applies to cheap supermarket house brands, or brands that don't have a well-established reputation. (Of course, even a better-known, more costly brand like Bertolli has been adulterated in the past. However, such brands' continued good reputation depends on getting it right, so they tend to work harder at protecting their credibility with consumers by offering oil that's at least not actually harmful, even if it's not truly the best out there. For the latter, you'll probably have to do a diligent and painstaking search of your own.)





Tom Mueller, author of the very informative book "Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil", offers a very useful "Buyer’s Guide to Olive Oil in North America" on his Web site (link is to an archived version). I highly recommend following his advice. (And no, I haven't been asked to promote his book, and I'm not being paid to do so - I just enjoy olive oil, and I'd like others to do so as well, without being cheated.)

Peter