The Financial Police of Cerignola (FG) discovered three clandestine laboratories dedicated to the production of counterfeit and adulterated extra virgin olive oil, seizing over 37.000 litres of an illegal product. During the economic control activities of the territory, the yellow flames identified, in various areas of the Cerignola countryside, three warehouses where oil was produced to be marketed as extra virgin olive oil.
Seed oil and dyes
However, analyzes conducted by ARPA Puglia staff revealed that the oil was derived from a mixture of sunflower seed oil with a high content of linoleic acid, enriched with dyes such as chlorophyll and beta-carotene beyond the limits permitted for oils intended for food consumption.
The mixture was then packaged in jerrycans and cans with labels that falsely attested to the extra virgin quality of the product, ready for marketing.
A truly specialized laboratory
During the operations, all tools and equipment used for packaging, bottling and mixing the counterfeit oil were seized, including 15 tanks with capacities of 10.000 and 1.000 litres, suction pumps, multiple bottling machines, strainers, labelers, blowers and mixers, along with beyond 23.000 cans 5 liters labeled as "extra virgin olive oil".
Three people were reported to the Public Prosecutor's Office of Foggia for trade in harmful substances and sale of non-genuine food substances as genuine; two of them were also accused of administrative violations relating to the lack of traceability of the origin and quality of the food product.
“The activities of Guardia di Finanza against the fraud in the agri-food supply chain– we read in a note from the yellow flames – aim to protect consumers, guaranteeing the safety and authenticity of the products, and to protect Italian companies that operate in compliance with the rules".
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