Portugal dismantles cooking oil fraud scheme

Portugal's Food and Economic Security Authority (ASAE) has dismantled a food fraud scheme involving cooking oil, seizing illicit materials worth €82,500.

The operation focused on the districts of Aveiro and Bragança and resulted in the seizure of more than 16,500 litres of cooking oil that was mislabelled as olive oil, along with nearly 83,000 olive oil labels – some of which had already been fixed to bottles of other types of cooking oil.

Working with the National Unit of Intelligence and Criminal Investigation (UNIIC) and the North Regional Unit – Unit Mirandela Operational Unit, ASAE officials carried out a raid at a food warehouse and an industrial packaging unit.

In a statement, the ASAE said that it had uncovered "fraudulent practices"  including the mislabelling of olive oil products "without presenting any proof of acquisition of genuine olive oil and with the intention of misleading the consumer regarding the characteristics of the product."

Two criminal cases have been opened for the crime of fraud involving goods, according to the statement.

"ASAE will continue to intensify its actions to research and inspection throughout the national territory, within its competencies, with the aim of ensuring compliance with market rules and the defence of free and healthy competition," said the agency.

The operation comes against a sharp increase number of potential olive oil fraud and mislabelling cases this year, driven by cost increases for genuine olive oil products – which have roughly doubled in the last few years as climate change has impacted production.

Producers in Spain, France, and Italy have complained of rampant fraud in the sector in recent months, while a spin-off of this year's Operation Opson against food fraud – focusing on Spain and Italy – led to the seizure of over 260,000 litres of olive oil that was deemed unfit for consumption.