Investigation Opened in Spain for Adulterated Olive Oil Exported to Italy

Summary

A com­pany in Córdoba, Spain, is being inves­ti­gated for allegedly export­ing adul­ter­ated olive oils to Italy as authen­tic extra vir­gin olive oil, with a report filed by La Fiscalía Provincial de Córdoba. Spain received a request for inter­na­tional judi­cial coop­er­a­tion from Italy after con­firm­ing the fal­si­fi­ca­tion of oil prod­ucts, prompt­ing the ini­ti­a­tion of pre­lim­i­nary pro­ce­dures to inves­ti­gate the sus­pected crime against con­sumers.

A com­pany in Córdoba, Spain, along with other enti­ties in Andalusia, are under inves­ti­ga­tion for allegedly export­ing adul­ter­ated olive oils to Italy to be sold as authen­tic extra vir­gin olive oil. A report for the inves­ti­ga­tion has been filed by La Fiscalía Provincial de Córdoba.

Spain received an inter­na­tional judi­cial coop­er­a­tion request from Italy after the coun­try con­ducted sev­eral inves­ti­ga­tions which con­firmed the fal­si­fi­ca­tion of oil prod­ucts.

Preliminary pro­ce­dures for a com­plete inves­ti­ga­tion of the pos­si­ble crime against con­sumers were ini­ti­ated late last year by the Públic Minister. In the wake of the cur­rent case, a report allow­ing for the con­tin­u­a­tion of the pre­lim­i­nary pro­ce­dures to inves­ti­gate three coop­er­a­tive com­pa­nies that are sus­pected of sell­ing adul­ter­ated oils was remit­ted by the Jaén Public Prosecutor’s Office, and the chair­man of the munic­i­pal­ity of Villacarrillo.

The adul­ter­ated oils were sold in Italy by var­i­ous oper­a­tors after they were processed through a process of deacid­i­fi­ca­tion and deodor­iza­tion which allowed the prod­ucts to pose as extra vir­gin olive oil or lam­pante olive oil to be exported, accord­ing to a doc­u­ment obtained by Europa Press.

The crime may have been occur­ring for years since author­i­ties in Italy claim to have detected a sim­i­lar case in 2013 and have also requested for judi­cial coop­er­a­tion to inves­ti­gate three other com­pa­nies in the Tarragona, Sevilla and Córdoba provinces.

The inves­ti­ga­tion found that the olive oil pro­vided by the Spanish sup­pli­ers to at least nine clients, stored in cis­tern trucks, arrived in Salerno dis­guised as extra vir­gin olive oil. The oils were sub­mit­ted for ana­lyt­i­cal inspec­tion and six of the prod­ucts ana­lyzed turned out to have irreg­u­lar­i­ties in respect to organolep­tic req­ui­sites.

In five other occa­sions, tech­ni­cal treat­ments that are not allowed in the mar­ket, such as the process of deodor­iz­ing, were sus­pected to have occurred when the tests that were ana­lyzed sig­naled anom­alous fac­tors.

According to a for­mer inves­ti­ga­tion, it was deduced that the Spanish com­pa­nies of Córdoba and Almería were likely con­nected.

Both com­pa­nies from Córdoba and Almería that were involved in the deceit are one and the same in the eyes of Italian author­i­ties. They are con­vinced that the Spanish sup­plier intended to dis­perse the effects of the inspec­tion that were first ana­lyzed in the var­i­ous ship­ments.

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