Law enforcement agencies in Spain and Italy apprehended
11 individuals and confiscated over 5,000 litres of poor-quality
olive oil. The raid has dismantled an international syndicate that
purportedly aimed to gain from selling lower-cost oils as
higher-value counterparts. It also raises huge intellectual
property (IP) concerns as the threat of counterfeit food products
continues to grow.
Meanwhile, officials in Brazil have confiscated approximately
9,000 bottles of counterfeit olive oil valued at 300,000 Brazilian
reals (€56,000). Investigators from the ministry grew
suspicious initially upon discovering Spanish-branded bottles
packaged inside boxes bearing Portuguese labels.
The confiscation occurred a fortnight following the ministry
agents' seizure of over 16,000 litres of olive oil in
São Paulo. Subsequent testing by authorities revealed that
more than 6,000 bottles contained oil they deemed to be unsuitable
for human consumption leading to them ordering its
