DE4CC0DE-5FC3-4494-BCBF-4D50B00366B5
Retail

Italy Raises Awareness Over Fraudulent Olive Oil

By Branislav Pekic
Share this article
Italy Raises Awareness Over Fraudulent Olive Oil

Italy's largest farming group and lobby has warned of deceptive practices to sell imported products as genuine Italian extra virgin olive oil.

According to Coldiretti, Italy imported some 666,000 tons of olive oil and olive pomace in 2014, a 38 per cent increase on the previous year and the highest figure in the past 20 years. The growth in imports was mostly due to the 35 per cent drop in national production to 300,000 tonnes, compared to 464,000 tonnes in the previous season.

However, despite the existence of a strict regulatory framework, Coldiretti claims there is a widespread misapplication of the rules, including the lack of import controls to verify the quality of commodity products entering Italy. This results in olive oil passing off for extra virgin olive oil, while pomace oil is marketed as olive oil. There is also a lack of control to distinguish and classify the extra virgin olive oils.

Also, bottles of non-Italian extra virgin olive oil are marketed with a strong emphasis on images, phrases or names that recall Italy.

© 2015 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Branislav Pekic

ADVERTISEMENT
Get the week's top grocery retail news

The most important stories from European grocery retail direct to your inbox every Thursday

Processing your request...

Thanks! please check your email to confirm your subscription.

By signing up you are agreeing to our terms & conditions and privacy policy. You can unsubscribe at any time.