Fake Olive Oil Scam

The bottles containing the oil were labeled “Extra virgin made in Italy”, which was intended to give the impression that they contained olive oil of the best quality. The restaurateurs knew they were cheating their customers; the purchase price was 3 euros per liter, extra virgin olive oil costs at least 9 euros per liter. The restaurant owners are being prosecuted for food fraud and the sale of illegal goods.

Crop Failures

The police discovered the scam during an investigation into the manufacturer of the fake oil. It is located in Apulia, a southern Italian region that lives from olive oil production.

The Italian Public Prosecution Service fears that this will not stop there. Due to the heat and drought of recent years in and outside Italy, harvest yields have fallen sharply and prices have risen explosively.

Liquid Gold

Criminals in other European countries have also turned to ‘liquid gold’. In Spain, police took over in Seville in October 74 tons of stolen olives seized.

Last month Spanish and Italian authorities broke up a network that sold bad olive oil as extra virgin oil. And in Greece A father and son were arrested because they wanted to sell 13,000 liters of Bulgarian sunflower oil as extra virgin olive oil.