Along with other food products, including fish, milk, meat, cereals, honey, coffee, wine and spices, olive oil is often the target of various illicit practices in the European Union.

One of the main factors leading to olive oil fraud identified by researchers is the price gap that exists between extra virgin olive oil and virgin olive oil and between extra virgin olive oils, depending on the place of origin.

Another factor identified in the report is the relatively high quality of virgin and lampante olive oils produced in the EU, which makes them easier to blend with extra virgin olive oils and sell very profitably as extra virgin.

The researchers also highlighted that, despite cases of fraudulent practices in the olive oil sector, the existing EU regulatory and control framework has significantly improved the quality of olive oil and this needs to be communicated to consumers.

“The level of attention and the high demand in terms of compliance checks have actually improved the quality of olive oil sold on the market over the last 30 years,” Enrico Valli, researcher at the Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences at the University of Bologna, told Olive Oil Times.

“On the other hand, the results highlighted in this scientific article, cross-referenced with the answers obtained from the questionnaires, indicate that to better guarantee the quality and authenticity of olive oil, there is still a need to improve compliance controls, reduce cases of disagreement in classifications, develop improved robust analytical methods and supporting screening tools, in an effort to try to stay one step ahead of fraudsters,” he added.

The researchers concluded that to better guarantee the quality and authenticity of olive oil, the European Union, the International Olive Council and other regulatory bodies should collaborate more closely.

The report recommended proposing a common strategy to bring together sensory and instrumental data and increase the expertise and cooperation of sensory panels.