Operation OPSON IX Nets Fake Food — and Olive Oil
In July 2020, a global Europol–Interpol sweep seized over $40 million in fake food, including about 88 tonnes of olive oil — most of it in Italy, from a producer whose surplus simply wasn’t in the official paperwork. That detail is the everyday face of the trade’s fraud.
Results of Operation OPSON IX, covering December 2019 to June 2020 across 77 countries, were announced in July 2020: over $40 million of illicit food seized, 407 arrests, roughly 12,000 tonnes of products — including about 88 tonnes of olive oil. More than 66 tonnes of it was seized in Italy from a producer whose surplus was not in the official paperwork. Not poison, not a dramatic adulteration — just oil that officially should not have existed. And that is the most common kind of fraud there is.
Most fraud is paperwork, not poison
When people imagine olive-oil fraud they picture something toxic. In reality the everyday version is quieter and duller: oil that isn’t quite what the label says, in quantities that don’t quite match the records. Undocumented ‘surplus’ is the classic. A mill or bottler ends up with more oil than its books can account for — bought off-record, blended in from cheaper sources, or simply moved without the required documentation — and that untracked oil is where mislabelling begins. It may taste fine. The problem is that nobody can say what it actually is, or where it came from.
Why ‘bottled in Italy’ isn’t the same as ‘from Italy’
The Italian detail matters because Italy is as much a great blender and bottler of olive oil as a grower of it. Enormous volumes of oil from Spain, Greece, Tunisia and elsewhere flow into Italy to be blended and shipped out under Italian-sounding labels. Most of that is perfectly legal. But it is also the environment in which undocumented surplus hides best, because so much oil is legitimately moving through. ‘Bottled in Italy’ tells you where the glass was filled, not where the olives grew — a distinction the label rarely makes plain.
| Kind of fraud | What it means | How likely to harm you |
|---|---|---|
| Undocumented surplus | Oil the books can’t account for; origin unknown | Usually a traceability problem, not a safety one |
| Mislabelled grade | Lesser oil sold as ‘extra virgin’ | You overpay; rarely dangerous |
| False origin | Foreign oil sold as local/PDO | You overpay for a story that isn’t true |
| Adulteration | Cut with cheaper refined or seed oil | A rip-off; occasionally a health issue |
| Spoiled oil sold anyway | Degraded product pushed to market | This is where it can become unsafe |
What a buyer should take from it
- Read ‘bottled in’ carefully. It names where the bottle was filled, not where the olives grew.
- Look for a named country of origin — ideally a region or estate, not just an EU catch-all.
- A harvest date is a paperwork test — honest producers print it; vague ones don’t.
- Most fraud won’t hurt you, just cheat you — but traceability guards against the rare case that would.
OPSON IX 2020 and the ‘surplus’ problem: common questions
What was seized in the 2020 operation?
Over $40 million in illicit food across 77 countries, including about 88 tonnes of olive oil — more than 66 tonnes of it in Italy from a producer with undocumented surplus.
Is undocumented surplus dangerous?
Usually not — it’s mainly a traceability problem: oil the records can’t account for. It may taste fine, but nobody can say what it truly is or where it came from.
Why is so much olive-oil fraud in Italy?
Because Italy is a huge blender and bottler as well as a grower, with vast legitimate volumes flowing in from abroad — which is exactly the environment where untracked oil hides best.
Does ‘bottled in Italy’ mean Italian olives?
No. It tells you where the bottle was filled, not where the olives grew. Look for a named country of origin, not just the bottling location.
How worried should I be about fraud harming me?
Most fraud cheats your wallet rather than your health. Traceable oil with a named origin and harvest date guards against both the common rip-off and the rare unsafe case.
Everyone pictures fraud as poison in a bottle. The everyday reality is far duller and far more common: undocumented ‘surplus’ — oil the paperwork can’t explain. It might taste perfectly fine. The point is nobody can tell you what it actually is or where it came from, and that’s the crack mislabelling slips through. The Italian angle isn’t a slur on Italy; it’s that Italy blends and bottles the world’s oil, so untracked oil hides there best. ‘Bottled in Italy’ is where the glass got filled, full stop. Want the truth? Buy a named origin and a harvest date.
Drawn from food-safety reporting on the July 2020 Operation OPSON IX results.