The spike in its price, due to the climate crisis and the destruction of production in olive-producing countries, caused a record number of cross-border incidents of fraud, adulteration and mislabelling in the first quarter of the year.
According to a report by the “Guardian”, while in the first quarter of 2018 there were registered in the E.U. only 15 cases of olive oil fraud, from January to March 2024 these incidents reached 50, a number which – according to the European Authorities – may be greatly underestimated compared to the real problem.
More specifically, out of a total of 182 notifications of fraud and non-compliance with EU directives. for olive oil from the beginning of 2023, 54 concerned products from Italy, 41 from Spain and 39 from Greece.
What do the scientists say?
The scientists involved in the certification of oils have also found an increase in cases of fraud by astute people in Greece. In recent times, the cases of detection of pesticides have been increasing, as revealed by speaking to “ET”, Mr. professor at the Department of Pharmacy, EKPA, Prokopis Maiatis.
“What has become common recently and is a very big problem is the contamination with olive oil, which contains pesticides or residues from mineral oils. These are ingredients that are potentially hazardous to health. It is actually a batch of olive oil, which contains many pesticides. Due to poor production, it is sold at a very low price and then mixed with other oils. Also, contamination from neighboring crops often passes unsuitable pesticides into the olive oil”, notes the expert,
According to the professor, the most common scams involve adulteration with lower quality oils, in an attempt to price the olive oil on the market as “extra virgin”.
“What we have found is mixing with other types of oils. It is a very common phenomenon, due to the fact that the oil has a very high price. It is mixed with other seed oils or even mixed with lower quality olive oil. This problem is not dangerous in essence, but it is definitely deceiving the consumer”, the expert points out.
Carcinogenesis
Germany last February reported an incident of product from Israel containing oils completely unfit for human consumption and yet being marketed as “extra virgin olive oil”. Health damage may occur when humans consume oil with pesticides or mineral oils and are potentially long-term, the scientist says.
“The health problems that can arise are mainly long-term and related to the type of substance used for adulteration and its quantity. We avoid exposure to residues of mineral oils or pesticides mainly because of the possibility of carcinogenesis.
When someone is systematically exposed to large quantities of these toxic substances, then theoretically they are at risk”, emphasizes Professor Mr. Maiatis.
The same is pointed out by the professor of Hygiene and Epidemiology of the Greek Academy of Sciences, Androniki Naska, president of the newly established National Nutrition Committee of the Ministry of Health.
“If you adulterate with sunflower oil there is no risk to health, apart from deceiving the consumer, who thinks he is consuming olive oil that has monounsaturates and is consuming sunflower oil that has polyunsaturates. Pollutants are a very serious matter because they are to blame for very serious health problems,” he notes.
How can we protect ourselves?
According to the expert, there is no way. The safest method is for consumers to purchase only standardized olive oil and not bulk oil ‘from the village’. “One should buy standardized olive oil that has the certificates accompanying its quality. This is the key element. Of course, counterfeiting can also occur in a standardized product. But that’s where the person responsible will be looked for, so it’s easier to find the problem. While in bulk you have no idea what is going on. That’s why we recommend avoiding the purchase of bulk olive oil”, notes Mr. Maiatis and concludes that there is no way to detect adulteration, unless one does very specialized laboratory tests and analyses.
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