Ministry of Agriculture intercepts cargo of 20 thousand liters of fraudulent olive oil in Foz do Iguaçu (PR)

The Ministry of Agriculture (Mapa) returned to Argentina, the country of origin, the shipment of 20.400 liters of counterfeit olive oil that was intercepted at the beginning of March by the inspection team of the International Agricultural Surveillance (Vigiagro), Foz do Iguaçu unit (PR), at the time of import.

The withdrawal of the product from the Brazilian market occurred at the beginning of this week, after tax samples, submitted to laboratory analysis, demonstrated in the result that it was oil classified as lampante type, a product considered unsuitable for consumption and could be used in olive oil fraud.

According to the head of the Inspection Service for Products of Vegetable Origin of Paraná (Sipov/PR), Fernando Mendes, olive oil is the product obtained only from the fruit of the olive tree, excluding any and all oil obtained through the use of solvent or by mixing with other oils, regardless of their proportions. “The addition of any other product to olive oil constitutes fraud,” he explained.

Olive oil fraud carried out by companies in Brazil, most of which are clandestine, uses oils that are inedible and unsuitable for human consumption, such as, for example, lampante olive oil, which poses a great risk to consumer health.

Lampante, a low-quality olive oil characterized by its high acidity, strange flavors and impurities, was historically used as lamp fuel.

The role of federal agricultural inspection in combating fraud in olive oil is carried out by collecting fiscal samples from bottlers, distributors and markets, which are analyzed at the Federal Agricultural Defense Laboratories (LFDA).

It is important to highlight that the majority of olive oil available on the national market is imported.

Quality standard

The official standard for the plant classification of foods and products of plant origin, determined by Mapa, is coordinated and supervised by the Department of Plant Origin Inspection of the Secretariat of Agricultural Defense, which classifies and certifies imported products.

The Department also defined operational procedures applicable to the import processes of olive oil and olive pomace oil, using risk criteria to select the import processes that must have samples collected for laboratory analysis.

“For this reason, 100% of olive oil shipments imported in bulk, as they are considered high risk for fraud, have samples collected by the federal agricultural inspection that are sent to the Mapa laboratory for physical-chemical and sensorial analysis, thus guaranteeing the quality of these products on the national market”, said Mendes.