Italian Olive Oil Scandal

[Chillout]

It's been in the news over recent weeks that some Italian brands that produce extra virgin olive oil have been accused of filling their bottles with lower quality oils.

There does not seem to be a health risk but it seems that these companies are more interested in making a profit than providing the consumer with the real product that they purchased.

Can you tell the difference between ‘extra virgin’ and ‘normal’ olive oil?

 

[Gabe]

As most people in the video have said, they suspected this for a long time. I wonder what prompted an investigation? I can tell the difference between the two when I cook, in the color and the smell, but I don't think it's worth spending too much on oil because of this.

I honestly buy a cheaper brand, because I suspect that there isn't that much difference in them. I like to add oil to my pasta so I used to have more expensive one for that alone, but then I found it didn't taste that much different and it was just the thickness of the oil. I switched to a cheaper basic olive oil, and because I add black pepper, butter and some chili flakes, I didn't really notice the difference.

I really hope that these companies either stop doing it, or haven't done it as it will ruin their reputation. The prices have gone up, but can they really justify the price hike if they have been misleading customers anyhow?

 

[pwarbi]

I'm also not really surprised by this news either, and the only surprise for me is that they haven't been caught in the first place.

The reason they haven't is probably because people's taste isn't good enough to know the difference, mine certainly isn't anyway, and to me it does taste very similar.