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Seven Italian firms probed in olive oil scam

Seven Italian olive oil producers, including Bertolli, Sasso and Carapelli, are being investigated over allegations that the firms falsely sold olive oil products a “extra virgin”.

Published: 11 November 2015 11:46 CET

Seven Italian firms probed in olive oil scam

The production of extra virgin olive oil must follow a strict and expensive process. Photo: Hrevoje Polan/AFP

Prosecutors in Turin launched the probe following a tip-off from a specialist journal, La Stampa reported.

They carried out tests on 20 of the most popular brands of extra virgin olive oil – the highest quality you can buy – sold across Italian supermarkets and found that the labels on nine of the bottles falsely claimed to be extra virgin.

The other four producers suspected of commercial fraud are Coricelli, Santa Sabina, Prima Donna and Antica Badia.

The companies have allegedly flouted the strict rules governing the production of extra virgin olive oil, a process which is expensive and time-consuming.

But despite the complicated production procedures, extra virgin olive oil is an easy product to tamper with, making it extremely difficult for consumers to taste the difference.

Chemical tests are supposed to be carried out by producers before the highly-demanded product can be labelled and sold as extra virgin.

Italy’s Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry last year seized €10 million worth of fake olive oil as part of a food fraud crackdown.

“We’re closely following the investigation,” Agriculture Minister Maurizio Martina said.

“For months we have been strengthening controls, particularly in view of last year’s poor harvest. It is important to protect consumers as well as the thousands of honest olive oil producers.”

SEE MORE: Like a virgin: how to spot fake Italian olive oil

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NGOs take Norway to European Court over Arctic oil exploration

Northern Norway. Photo by Vidar Nordli-Mathisen on Unsplash.

It’s the latest turn in a legal tussle between environmental organisations Greenpeace and Young Friends of the Earth Norway on one side and the Norwegian state on the other.

The organisations are demanding the government cancel 10 oil exploration licenses in the Barents Sea awarded in 2016, arguing it was unconstitutional.

Referring to the Paris Agreement, which seeks to limit global warming to less than two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, the organisations claim that the oil licenses violated article 112 of Norway’s constitution, guaranteeing everyone the right to a healthy environment.”

The six activists, alongside Greenpeace Nordic and Young Friends of the Earth Norway, hope that the European Court of Human Rights will hear their case and find that Norway’s oil expansion is in breach of human rights,” Greenpeace said in a statement.

In December, Norway’s Supreme Court rejected the claim brought by the organisations, their third successive legal defeat.

READ MORE: Norway sees oil in its future despite IEA’s warnings

While most of the judges on the court agreed that article 112 could be invoked if the state failed to meet its climate and environmental obligations– they did not think it was applicable in this case.

The court also held that the granting of oil permits was not contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights, in part because they did not represent “a real and immediate risk” to life and physical integrity.

“The young activists and the environmental organisations argue that this judgment was flawed, as it discounted the significance of their environmental constitutional rights and did not take into account an accurate assessment of the consequences of climate change for the coming generations,” Greenpeace said.

On Friday, the Norwegian government unveiled a white paper on the country’s energy future, which still includes oil exploration despite a warning from the International Energy Agency (IEA).

The IEA recently warned that all future fossil fuel projects must be scrapped if the world is to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

The Norwegian case is an example of a global trend in which climate activists are increasingly turning to courts to pursue their agenda.

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