Adulteration widespread in olive oil

İZMİR - Doğan News Agency

Olive oil producers are complaining about fake products in the market. DHA photo

Producers claim the sale of adulterated or fake products is even more prevalent in Turkey’s olive oil market than in the honey market, in which the problem has attracted attention recently, the Doğan news agency reported yesterday.

“The problem of fake products in the olive oil market is five times bigger than that in the honey market,” Doğan news agency quoted producers as saying. The National Olive and Olive Oil Council has reported 117 complaints to the Food, Agriculture and Livestock Ministry so far.

A board under the Ministry of Customs and Trade recently found that some honey firms were selling non-honey substitute substances as honey. The Turkish Board of Advertising has imposed heavy fines on two honey companies for taking advantage of consumers by using deceptive statements in their commercials.

Such scandals regarding food security have begun to break out since the ministry recently began exposing the names of companies that have been found to sell or produce fake products.

Commenting on the fact that only two firms have been exposed for selling fake honey, Metin Ölken, the head of the Olive Friends Association, said the process of exposing a food company’s wrongdoing is slow. Still, it would be helpful to apply the same process in the olive oil market, he said, adding that “exposing the names of the companies is still not a definite solution. They resurface under different names after laughing all the way to the bank.”

Ölken said large olive oil companies have an interest in allowing the production of fake or adulterated oil to continue. “In fact, they do not want this problem to be solved, because the consumers do not buy olive oil from smaller companies for fear of purchasing fake olive oil.”