Andalusia Blames Bad Storage, Not Fraud, for Failed Oils
Andalusia’s health minister, María Jesús Montero, said on 10 August that most of the companies whose “extra virgin” failed official tests last November have shown the oil matched its label on the day it was bottled, and that her department now suspects poor conservation somewhere between the bottler and the shop. Consumer and farm groups are furious at the answer and at the nine months it took. Here is what the inspectors found, what the minister said, and the lesson for anyone who buys oil off a shelf.
What the inspectors found
Last November the regional Department of Health and Consumer Affairs analyzed 24 batches of olive oil on sale in Andalusia. In 15 of them, the contents were of lower quality than the label claimed, in most cases a lesser oil sold as extra virgin or virgin. The inspections concentrated on shops selling directly to consumers and on brands with “exceptionally low” prices. The suspect batches were frozen and their sale banned, and 15 sanction proceedings were opened.
| The inquiry in numbers | Figure |
|---|---|
| Batches analyzed, November 2010 | 24 |
| Batches inferior to their label | 15 |
| Sanction proceedings still open | 15 |
| Time before any results were given | About nine months |
| Brands named publicly | None |
What the minister said
Speaking while the procedure is still open, Montero said that “the majority of the businesses” had been able to show that when the oil was bottled it was in the condition stated on the label. They did it with their own analyses from the moment of packing. Extra virgin olive oil, she explained, loses its sensory qualities if it is not kept in the right conditions, including stable temperatures and proper transport, much as wine does. If so, the fault lies not with the mills and bottlers but somewhere in distribution and retail.
The department is now working with the sector on advice for shoppers, and is considering a campaign so that consumers can check, when they pick up a bottle, that it has been properly kept. Montero declined to name the brands involved until the proceedings are finished.
How the sector reacted
Nobody on the other side of the counter was satisfied. Rubén Sánchez, spokesman for the consumer federation Facua, told Europa Press that the regional government was “making a fool of itself”. He could not see why counter-analyses took more than eight months when the tests themselves take hours, and suggested that either the government laboratory is swamped or the bureaucracy is painfully slow. He also criticized the choice to test only the cheapest brands, after tons of oil had been pulled from the market and every low-priced label placed under suspicion.
Growers were just as angry. Rafael Civantos, secretary-general of the farmers’ union COAG in Jaén, said he was astounded that it had taken nine months to get any information, and that the message was “not fraud, just incorrect preservation”. He wants the brands named.
What it means for buyers
Here is the uncomfortable part: both sides may be right. Extra virgin is a perishable grade. Light, heat and time wear it down, and an oil that passes every test on bottling day can taste flat or rancid a few months later if it spends them in a hot truck or under a shop spotlight. The minister’s explanation is plausible. It is also convenient, because it leaves nobody responsible.
Until someone is, protect yourself:
- Take the bottle from the back of the shelf, not the one standing under the light or in the window.
- Prefer dark glass or tins, and sizes you will finish within a couple of months of opening.
- Look for a best-before date well in the future and, better still, a harvest date.
- Be wary of extra virgin at an exceptionally low price. That is exactly where the inspectors looked, and exactly where they found problems.
Spain has had real adulteration scares before, and deliberate fraud is a different animal, described in our note on how adulteration really works. In my experience, though, most bad bottles are not criminal. They are simply old, or badly kept.
The bottler’s certificate on filling day is the document that protects the bottler. Nobody tests the oil again at the warehouse, in the truck or on the shelf, so when a bottle fails months later, every link in the chain can truthfully say it was fine when it left them. The grade on the label is a promise that has to survive the shop, and the shop is the one place nobody measures.
Sources
- El País: Los análisis descartan el fraude en el etiquetado del aceite virgen extra, 11 August 2011
- Europa Press: Facua cree que la Junta hace el ridículo con su investigación del fraude en el aceite, 11 August 2011
- Olive Oil Times: Andalusian Minister Under Fire for Blaming Olive Oil Preservation, Not Fraud, 14 August 2011 (archived copy)