Olive Oil Scams Are Proliferating: How Do You Spot a Fake Extra-Virgin?

If you order extra-virgin olive oil at the restaurant these days, you better check the label carefully.

According to Europol, selling fake olive oil has become a “common practice“.

The warning came after authorities seized 260,000 litres of counterfeit product in coordinated raids across Italy and Spain, in November.

Less than two months later, around fifty restaurants came under investigation for the same reason, in Rome, sparking new alarms.

How do you tell if an olive oil is authentic?

Some fraudsters are substituting the precious “liquid gold” with much cheaper seed oil.

Seed oil is transparent, so they colour it with chlorophyll, to add green tints, and use carotenoids to obtain yellow traits. This creates an olive oil-ish colour.

However, even if they look similar, big differences remain.