Olive oil fraud: five ways to know if the product you are buying is authentic

Nobody likes to feel cheated. Sometimes our ignorance of the products we buy plays a trick, and others where manufacturers take advantage of the circumstances to sell "hack", as sometimes happens with the
olive oil.

As olives are picked from the tree until they reach supermarket shelves, there is a long chain of production.

"The fraud in the olive oil market has been around for a long time," Susan Testa, director of culinary innovation at the Italian production company Bellucci, told BBC. "It can be mixed with other types of oil," he adds, without the label noticing it.

Some bodies regulate the sale of the product, such as the International Olive Council, which defines a series of chemical and organoleptic properties (related to the sensations that the oil produced for the taster, given the color, taste, texture and aromas) and specific study methods.

But despite the controls, fraudulent actions persist. The European Commission has included olive oil in a list of adulterated products and, in February of this year, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA for its acronym in English) warned that a bad olive harvest could lead to an increase in fraudulent oils. year

The situation could become even more complicated as production in Italy has fallen sharply due to the spread of Xylella Fastidiosa and poor weather conditions.

To determine whether the olive oil you buy is authentic, Susana Romera, technical director of the School of Olive Oil (ESAO) in Spain, makes five recommendations that can be useful when choosing 'a product.

Step 1

Check that the olive oil you are going to buy has last names. If it is not indicated on the label
"Virgin" or "extra", it's probably a mix.

Extra virgin oil (or extra virgin, depending on the country) is the highest category, which will cost you a bit more, but it's worth it.

2nd step

Look on the label for the date on which the olives were harvested. If this appears, it means that the company is serious.

And obviously, it's better if the date is as recent as possible. For example, if you are going to buy now, it would be nice to say "2018-2019 campaign" on the date of harvest.

In this way, you know that olives are fresh and this year.

Step 3

Look in the bottle with what type of olives the oil was made. It can be a monovarietal (of a single variety) or a mixture, that is to say a mixture of different varieties of 39; olives.

In both cases, that's fine. It is good that the label includes the variety because it is so that they tell us that they use olives and not other fats.

For the same reason, it must be read that it does not mix anything with other fats.

Step 4

The price of virgin olive oil or extra must have a reasonable level. If it's too low, do not trust it too much.

Making olive oil has a cost, and if it has a very low value, you should be suspicious.

Step 5

This last step is impossible to do without opening the bottle. Extra virgin or genuine olive oil must have nature-like aromas, such as fruit, grbad, grbad, flowers. depending on the variety. But under no circumstances should the flavors be abnormal or unpleasant.

Other experts add some tips, like for example to make sure that the bottle is dark glbad (as it maintains better product quality) or that it clearly indicates the place of origin , instead of using subterfuges such as highlighting the country from which it was imported.

Some experts also suggest checking that the bottle indicates the degree of acidity. The best oils have the least acidity (ideally, less than 0.8 degrees).

"Fraud is a reality"

In the last five years, the climate of the Mediterranean region has affected production, leading to higher prices, followed by a decline in consumption.

In fact, according to the International Olive Council, global consumption of olive oil has fallen by almost 6% over the period 2016-2017, while it has dropped by 12% in Europe.

It is precisely this type of circumstance that could leave space for some producers to change the composition of their products.

"The fraud in the global market of olive oil is a reality," said Romera. "To the extent that the end consumer or the population does not know the quality of a product, companies will always try to sell you the minimum quality at the maximum price."

However, the expert says that there is a traceability "increasingly stringent" of the entire chain of production of oils that reach supermarkets.

And while recent harvests are not the best, some badysts predict better times for the sector.

According to consulting firm Hexa Research, the world market for olive oil will exceed 11,000 USD by 2025, with strong demand from countries such as Australia, Japan , India, China and the United States, countries in which the millennium generation occupies this product.