Almost 180 quintals of olive oil passed off as “ORGANIC extra virgin” although of a lower category were seized.
The discovery was made during checks aimed at protecting Made in Italy and product safety, carried out by the Provincial Command of the Guardia di Finanza of Catanzaro, together with the Provincial Command of Barletta-Andria-Trani and the Central Inspectorate for quality protection and repression agro-food product fraud (ICQRF) of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry.
The Financiers and ICQRF officials had undertaken inspection activities at the headquarters of two companies, in the provinces of Catanzaro and Barletta Andria Tranicarrying out a quantitative comparison of the product held and a sampling of the same, in order to determine its quality based on what is reported in the specific electronic register implemented by the companies themselves.
The oil found at the Catanzaro producer, part of a large quantity destined for the Apulian company and already partly delivered to it, had been cataloged as BIO extra virgin oilby completing the SIAN electronic register, mandatory for companies in the sector. The intervention of the Guardia di Finanza and the Ministry of Agriculture made it possible to ascertain that the product did not respond at all to the chemical and organoleptic characteristics expected for this quality, but in fact it was virgin and lampante oil, the latter not edible and characterized by an excessive degree of acidity, potentially dangerous for the health of consumers.
Based on the elements that emerged, the Fiamme Gialle reported the owner of the individual business to the Catanzaro Prosecutor’s Office for fraud crimes in the exercise of trade and sale of non-genuine food substances as genuine, seizing 3 tanks containing a total of 17,900 kg of oil, of which 4,500 lampante oil, equal to a value of over 200,000 euros.