The Spanish public health authority has brought to justice the case of the alleged virgin olive oil that last week was seized in Extremadura and Andalusia, suspected of being part of a fraudulent network affecting the product.
The Junta de Extremadura has brought the case as a result of the first analyses carried out by the Extremadura Agri-food laboratory that confirm the mixture of lampante oil with other refined products unfit for consumption.
Lampante is virgin olive oil of poorer quality than other varieties that is not suitable for consumption and is intended for refining for industrial use. It can be lampante due to a problem in the olives, because they have been collected from the ground or, because they are too ripe.
However, it can also be a lampante oil that is not suitable for consumption due to deficiencies in the production process, for which reason it presents acidity values or parameters that do not recommend its intake.
11 BRANDS FACE A CRIME AGAINST PUBLIC HEALTH
The product has been on sale in retail stores, filling stations and markets in Extremadura and Andalusia under a total of 11 different brands: Acebuche, Virgen del Guadiana, Cortijo del Oro, La Campiña de Andalusia, Galiaceite 2022, La Abadía, Villa de Jerez, Don Jaén Aceite 2019, Imperio Andaluz, La Esmeralda and Vareado.
The food alert has motivated the seizure and withdrawal from the market of 68,000 litres of oil due to changes in the taste, smell, colour and consistency of the product.
The Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition (Aesan) received a food alert last week at the request of the health authorities of Andalusia specifying that companies without a health registration number and, therefore, outside official control, were bottling oil and distributing it in the Autonomous Community of Extremadura.
PRODUCT RETURN
If you have purchased any of these products, you can return it to the corresponding establishment to request a refund of the price paid or its replacement with a new product in accordance with the regulations.
Public Health informs the population that anyone who has purchased oil from the brands mentioned above should refrain from consuming it and contact the pharmaceutical or veterinary services of their Health Centre, so that they can inform them about the evolution of the alert and the actions to be carried out.
