As olive oil prices continue to rise, cases of food fraud linked to this product are becoming more and more frequent around the world.
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This is what the agri-food industry specialist at Dalhousie University, Sylvain Charlebois, says in an interview with LCN.
He claims that olive oil prices have doubled in just 18 months.
“People are opting for other types of vegetable oil, such as avocado oil and sunflower oil which are increasingly popular,” explains the expert. Prices will stabilize, but we do not expect drops.”
This phenomenon encourages the implementation of fraudulent schemes to dilute this product with other oils.
“What worries us most is food fraud,” says Mr. Charlebois. Olive oil is always a good target for fraud. Besides, we were in a meeting [mardi] with the people of Spain and Greece and it is estimated that in Europe, 20% of olive oil has been modified. We added other types of oil through olive oil.”
“We have no idea what is happening in Canada, but I have the impression that there are cases here in Canada because of the high price,” he adds. As soon as prices increase, as soon as prices explode for certain products, we expose this category to acts of fraud.”
These schemes are sometimes very difficult to detect.
“It’s difficult to really taste the difference,” says the specialist. There are experts who are capable of doing it in Europe, but in Canada, it is always difficult. That’s why I encourage people to really make sure they go to specialty stores to buy them. Sometimes there are very well-known brands that could be fraudulent, unfortunately.”
The expert therefore advises to be wary of deals, but to take advantage of them if you trust the merchant.
“In the agri-food sector, price reductions are very rare,” he says. So if you see olive oil for sale, first be wary and ask yourself if it’s really olive oil, but if you trust the seller, buy it because It won’t happen often.”
Watch the full interview in the video above
