The EU saw a record number of cases of suspected olive oil fraud and mislabelling in the first quarter of this year as inflationary pressures expanded a hidden market for the kitchen staple.
Olive oil prices have more than doubled since 2018 as production has been hit by extreme weather due to the climate crisis and other factors.
As prices soar, so too has the number of “cross-border EU notifications”, including safety cases involving mislabelling, potential fraud and contaminated oil.
The EU recorded just 15 such cases in the first quarter of 2018. Data released to the Guardian under Freedom of Information laws shows that in the first three months of this year there were a record 50 cases, more than a threefold increase.
But these are only cases discovered by member states and reported to the EU health directorate – the figure does not include domestic cases, and the true scale of the fraud is probably much higher.
Incident reports included cases where oil was contaminated with illegal substances such as pesticides and mineral oil, as well as broken glass.
There have also been numerous cases where extra virgin olive oil has been found to have been adulterated with lower or poorer quality oils, where virgin olive oil has been labelled as extra virgin (a higher quality unrefined oil with less acidity) or where it has been misleadingly or erroneously labelled as to its country of origin.
In a classic example, in February Germany reported that “lampante oil” from Israel was being sold as “extra virgin olive oil” – an oil that is deemed unfit for human consumption without refining. Some of the oil crosses multiple borders, with Germany reporting a case of “misleading mislabelling of Syrian olive oil via the Netherlands” in March.
Of the 182 olive oil fraud and non-compliance notices sent to the EU since the beginning of 2023, 54 related to products originating from Italy, 41 from Spain and 39 from Greece.
In July 2022, the EU introduced new rules regarding conformity checks and analytical methods for olive oil sales standards.
A Commission spokesman said the increase in the number of notifications in the system did not indicate a worsening risk for consumers: “The increase in the number of notifications reported each year is evidence of better information exchange between the competent authorities of Member States and increased vigilance against fraudulent activities in the agri-food chain.”
“The Commission has zero tolerance for fraudulent practices. With a view to providing good quality olive oil to EU consumers, the Commission organizes annual workshops and promotes cooperation between EU countries to ensure that these tests are carried out correctly and that there is an exchange of relevant information for those working with olive oil.”
Chris Elliott, professor of food safety at Queen’s University Belfast, said that while the consequences of consuming contaminated olive oil could be severe, it is unlikely to appear on the shelves of major supermarkets. “Most people who cheat are likely to do so in places where there is no oversight or oversight whatsoever. Small businesses and the food service industry are particularly vulnerable to cheating,” he said.
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Olive oil production has declined in recent years due to global warming, and crops in Spain, which produced more than half the world’s olive oil in 2018-19, have been hit by drought and heat waves with temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit).
Global olive production is expected to fall to 2.4 million tonnes in 2023-24, down 27 percent compared to 2018-19 and below projected consumption of 2.6 million tonnes, according to provisional figures from the International Olive Council (IOC).
The result has been a surge in prices: the price of 100 kilograms of extra virgin olive oil from Jaén, Spain, rose to 787 euros last November from 262.50 euros five years ago, making olive oil an even more attractive market for fraudsters.
Elliott said climate change-induced inflation was often behind the rise in fraud, saying: “Anytime you see fluctuations in commodity prices, it’s a clear sign that fraud will increase in the coming months, giving people more opportunities to commit fraud.”
“Olive oil is one example. We’ve also seen a huge increase in items like chocolate, where cocoa production is a big problem. And because of climate change, items like coffee will also see a huge increase. The more processed the food is, the more opportunities there are for fraud.”
Italy’s Central Inspection Agency for the Protection of Agricultural Product Quality and Prevention of Fraud (ICQRF) last year seized 380 tonnes of petroleum products worth more than €2 million and completed a program in which it reported 17 people to judicial or administrative authorities for serious violations related to false or missing labelling, or the fraudulent sale of non-extra virgin oils as “extra virgin”.
In November, Italian authorities seized 550,000 kilos of oil that was declared olive oil but was actually a mixture of vegetable oils. The value of the seized goods was approximately 250,000 euros.
