Sad news: there’s a new case of fraud in olive oil  

On March 10th, “La Hora de la 1”, a popular morning TV show broadcasted by Spanish TVE, reported a new case of fraud in olive oil labelling. A number of commercial brands are being sold clandestinely in street markets, gas stations, and distribution warehouses in various parts of Spain, especially in Andalusia and Extremadura.

These brands are named “Acebuche”, “Virgen del Guadiana”, “Cortijo del Oro”, “La Campiña de Andalucía”, “Galiaceite 2022”, “La Abadía”, “Villa de Jerez”, “Don Jaén Aceite 2019”, and “Imperio Andaluz”.

The fraud consists of these oils not having passed the Sanitary Registry and being outside of any official control. The case was brought to light after the Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU) reported the situation to the AESAN, Spanish Agency for Food Safety. The latter has confiscated the products and removed them from the market.

For those of us who do things right, like at Ralda + Friends or the Godall Cooperative, among many others, such cases are particularly sad. Firstly, because they endanger the health of people who, with all the illusion want to enjoy a wonderful product like olive oil and expose themselves to contracting an illness. Secondly, because it generates a bad name for our sector.

This fraudulent activity endangers a sector that is threatened for many reasons and is fighting for survival. Let’s hope that our readers are vigilant and check the labels of olive oils, favouring small producers and short circuits and not hesitating to denounce any abuse found.

There is no miracle, it is impossible to offer a quality olive oil that is too cheap, the process of caring for the trees, harvesting and production implies a minimum of costs in order to carry it out in a correct and controlled way, which must be reflected in the price of the products offered. This is in all our interests.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)More information in the TVE report: https://www.rtve.es/play/videos/la-hora-de-la-1/alerta-aceite-andaluz-mal-etiquetado/6831193/