Italian police found that fake olive oil was sold as real olive oil in nearly 50 restaurants in Rome. The fake oil consisted of seed oil of unknown origin, colored with green leafy vegetables and flavored with beta-carotene. La Repubblica newspaper writes that the latter was not very successful. It tasted only vaguely reminiscent of olive oil.
The bottles containing the oil were labeled “extra virgin produced in Italy” to give the impression that they contained the highest quality olive oil. The restaurant owners knew they were cheating their customers; The purchase price was 3 euros per liter, extra virgin olive oil cost at least 9 euros per liter. Restaurant owners are accused of food fraud and selling illegal products.
crop failures
Police discovered the fraud while investigating the manufacturer of the fake oil. It is located in Puglia, a southern Italian region that thrives on olive oil production.
The Italian prosecutor’s office fears that the situation will not remain this way. Due to heat and drought in recent years inside and outside Italy, crop yields have fallen sharply and prices have risen rapidly.
liquid gold
Criminals in other European countries have also resorted to “liquid gold”. In Spain, Seville police seized 74 tons of stolen olives in October.
Last month, Spanish and Italian authorities busted a network selling low-quality olive oil as extra virgin oil. In Greece, a father and son were arrested for trying to sell 13 thousand liters of Bulgarian sunflower oil as extra virgin olive oil.
Source: NOS
Roy Brown is a renowned economist and author at The Nation View. He has a deep understanding of the global economy and its intricacies. He writes about a wide range of economic topics, including monetary policy, fiscal policy, international trade, and labor markets.
