Title: The Great Olive Oil Scam | Reader's Digest Canada
Headings: The Great Olive Oil Scam
The Great Olive Oil Scam
Content: Some counterfeit olive oil has been found to contain everything from canola and hazelnut to soybean oil, colored with chlorophyll. “Extra virgin” is frequently the cheaper “virgin” oil, bulked up with olive pomace oil (extracted from old olive pulp, using solvents), doctored, deodorized and flavoured with beta-carotene. Antonio Barile is a national executive at the CIA, the Italian Farmers Confederation. “ If you consider Italy produces an average of 400,000 tonnes of extra virgin a year,” he says, “but sells 900,000 to 1 million tonnes of Italian extra virgin, you see the scale of the fraud.” 2 / 3
Photo: Lionel Derimais
Extra virgin olive oil has a specific set of identifiable characteristics. Italian extra virgin can cost at least €6 a litre to make, yet it can be found in some Italian supermarkets for as little as €3. “To meet demand at this impossible price,” says Barile, “some of the big corporations mix in low-quality oil. Puglia produces the Chanel No. 5 of oils, but only 15-20 per cent is bottled and sold by independent producers.