'Four out of five' bottles of Italian olive oil debased

The fraud has been uncovered by an investigation involving the Italian customs service and police from the Guardia di Finanza, or fraud squad, with the encouragement of Coldiretti, one of the country's biggest agricultural organisations.

The con is being perpetrated by what amounted to an "agro-mafia" of dishonest producers and manufacturers, Coldiretti said.

"It involves 13 of the biggest olive oil producers ? there are some very famous names," Stefano Masini, the organisation's spokesman, said.

"We asked the authorities to intensify their checks in this sector and the investigation is only just beginning. It's going to be a long battle but it is essential because people need to be able to know the difference between genuine, top quality Italian oil and everything else."

The fraud was being organised by a "cartel" of importing and distributing companies, Mr Masini said, most of them operating in central and southern Italy.

Coldiretti has waged an aggressive campaign to crack down on food products that are fraudulently identified as Italian, often encased in packaging emblazoned with the red, white and green of the national flag.

In the past its target has largely been foreign-made food and drink, such as 'mozzarella' made in the United States, 'pecorino' sheep's cheese produced in China and 'prosciutto' ham originating from Eastern Europe.

But Italians are also active in misrepresenting their own food and drink, passing off mozzarella made from cow's milk as genuine buffalo mozzarella and adding low-quality grapes to some of the country's most famous red wines.

Source: http://telegraph.feedsportal.com/c/32726/f/564430/s/1b473aea/l/0L0Stelegraph0O0Cfinance0Cnewsbysector0Cretailandconsumer0C89780A530CFour0Eout0Eof0Efive0Ebottles0Eof0EItalian0Eolive0Eoil0Edebased0Bhtml/story01.htm

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