Beware! How to spot fake olive oil
The world of olive oil is plagued by mafia-like practices without you probably realizing it. While we pour liquid gold over our salads and pasta, a growing problem is looming: fake olive oil. The cause? A significant increase in prices has created the perfect climate for fraud. How to recognize good olive oil, you may know by now. But how do you fish out fake olive oil? Our colleague Sophie from Italiamo explains how to discover whether you’re being ripped off with inferior stuff.
Why have prices gone up?
Olive oil has seen the biggest price increase of all supermarket products. It’s no coincidence that olive oil has suddenly become a luxury product. Prices have risen sharply in recent years due to a combination of factors, including extreme weather conditions that destroyed harvests in Southern Europe, Turkey and Morocco. Intense heatwaves and prolonged droughts, among other things, caused a significant drop in production. Add general inflation and rising production costs, and you have the perfect storm for rising olive oil prices—and plenty of reason for shady dealings. As recently as January, police found fake oil on the tables at more than fifty restaurants in Rome.
Olive oil fraud
Now that they can (and have to) charge more than ten euros for a bottle of olive oil, fraudsters are seizing their opportunity. The ways in which they counterfeit olive oil are inventive:
- Oil blends: one of the most common tricks is mixing expensive olive oil with cheaper oils such as sunflower oil or rapeseed oil, then selling it as pure olive oil. Two Greeks have since been arrested after buying thousands of liters of sunflower oil from Bulgaria and intending to label it as Greek olive oil.
- Color tricks: to make the concoction look like olive oil, some fraudsters add chlorophyll and carotenoids, creating the familiar green and yellow hues.
- Fictional origins: stating on the label that the olive oil comes from a prestigious region such as Tuscany or Andalusia, even if the oil has never been there.
How to spot fake olive oil
Recognizing real olive oil requires a little detective work. I’ve done the groundwork for you; now all you have to do is pay close attention to the following things:
- Color and smell: real olive oil has a pronounced flavor and aroma. If the oil is flavorless or has a strange smell, something is wrong. A grassy aroma is a good sign. Acetone, manure, stitched clothing and mud are bad news.
- Taste: extra virgin olive oil has a slight bitterness and gives a little sharpness at the back of your throat. It also doesn’t leave a layer of grease in your mouth.
- Read the label: real extra virgin olive oil must clearly state where it was produced and may not contain any other ingredients.
- Take the test: if you really want to go all out, you can analyze the fatty acid composition or use spectrophotometry to check the purity. You probably know better than I do how that works if you actually want to do it.
Read also:
- 5 things not to do when you go to Italy
- Italian dishes you will never, ever get in Italy
- 7x the most delicious dishes in Northern Italy
Source: Italiamo
