Whether it's priced at $10 or $30, these precious Mediterranean oils can frequently be diluted with cheaper alternatives by the time they reach our grocery shelves here in the U.S. It's a massive scam, and recently, Greek police arrested a father and son duo engaged in the same deceptive practice.
From National Post:
A raid in a warehouse outside the northern city of Thessaloniki on Friday yielded over 13 tons of the oil, with slightly more than half already packaged in tin cans and plastic bottles and the rest in a tank, police said.
The pair, aged 80 and 36, bought the sunflower oil in Bulgaria, not far from Thessaloniki, and added colouring agents to pass it off as extra virgin olive oil. Some of it they sold in Bulgaria and the rest in Greece, police said.
The pair were provisionally released after interrogation by a magistrate. Oil samples have been sent to a laboratory to determine whether the colouring agents are dangerous.
Hot weather over the summer hit olive oil production especially hard, sending prices skyrocketing. A 5-litre (1.3-gallon) can of oil is sold retail at 57 euros (US$62) from 26 (US$28.30) last year.
Besides cases of adulteration, gangs have been breaking into warehouses to steal oil and olives. There have even been break-ins into olive groves, with thieves chopping off tree branches.
It really feels like you're dodging scams left and right nowadays, and it's pretty disheartening to hear that olive oil, of all things, is being added to the ever-growing list of things you need to be wary of.
