68,000 gallons of fake, inedible ‘olive oil’ seized in Spain, cops say. 11 arrested
Law enforcement agents in Italy and Spain investigated efforts to make counterfeit and inedible olive oil, leading to the seizure of over 68,000 gallons of contaminated oil and 11 arrests, officials said.
Schemes to make fake extra virgin olive oil are “a common practice,” according to a Dec. 4 news release from Europol, the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation. Police described these schemes as “illegal” and able to pose “a public health risk.”
Italian and Spanish police investigated one such scheme in which extra virgin olive oil was diluted with lampante oil, the release said. Named after its use as fuel for oil lamps, lampante oil is described as a “lower-quality variant of olive oil” with higher acidity, a “distinctly unpleasant” smell and “undesirable flavor.”
Lampante oil is made from “bad olives and could be dangerous or not depending on the state of the olives it is produced from,” Europol told McClatchy News via email.
Europol spokesperson Ina Mihaylova said lampante oil is “forbidden for direct human consumption” in Spain, “but not in other countries.”
The investigation into fake “olive oil” led to police raids in Ciudad Real in Spain and Tuscany and Sicily in Italy, the release said.
Police in Spain seized about 68,680 gallons of fake “olive oil,” four vehicles, about $98,500 and other paper evidence, Europol said.
In Italy, police said they inspected three factories suspected of making fake olive oil, took samples and gathered documents. One company was sanctioned for “irregular labeling” of products.
Eleven suspects were arrested in connection with the counterfeit oil investigation, police said. Police did not release the identity of the suspects or the charges they were facing.
This story was originally published December 4, 2023 at 9:55 AM with the headline "68,000 gallons of fake, inedible ‘olive oil’ seized in Spain, cops say. 11 arrested."
