Adulterated Olive Oil

Our most recent expedition included us leaving Orvieto and escaping to a small little farm in Sorento.  On the bus ride towards the farm, Zack and I read and presented an article concerning the vast concern of the fraudulent olive oil business in Italy.  As it turns out, due to the lucrative nature of the olive oil business, extra virgin olive oil is massively fraudulent and often mixed with other oils such as hazelnut oil, sunflower seed oil, and other types of non authentic olive oil (virgin oil or lampante). Due to the exceeding increasing demand of extra virgin olive oil, people are willing to pay the same amount for “authentic” Italian EVOO without fully knowing what real authentic olive oil tastes like.  This is the deciding factor behind many producers willingness to forge extra virgin olive oil.  Being able to charge the same price without having the high costs of producing said authentic oil has historically made many business men very rich.  As the article states, this has been a huge problem for the reputation and economy of the Italian food market, because the government has provided subsidies to these large olive oil producers because of the immense percentage of consumption that Italy represents.  Overall, Italy is the second largest producer of olive oil, behind Spain, and is the leader in consumption of olive oil worldwide.  Due to this statistic, Italy has to import a sizeable amount of olive oil from other countries such as Spain and other European and South American countries.  This is what leaves room for producers foreign and domestic the incentive to dilute their supply of real olive oil in order to meet the supply of Italian consumers without breaking the bank, or losing money.

However you put it, fraud is still fraud.  However, as a class we got the chance to taste and experience real, authentic extra virgin olive oil.  As we stay at a small farm in the hills of Sorento, we have gotten to see firsthand how authentic Italian extra virgin olive oil tastes.  It is hard to say if I have ever tasted olive oil quite like that of this farm, which begs the question if I have every even tasted real EVOO in my entire life… (and I have bought my fair share of Italian olive oil in the states)  Regardless, it is interesting to think about and see the differences between two seemingly identical products.  In terms of economics, these two products should be in the same market, however, as more information is provided to us consumers, there is a visible product segmentation beginning to take place between that of authentic extra virgin olive oil and non-authentic extra virgin olive oil.

Personally, this article has related not only to our travels and experiences, but more so to the economic predicament that is present within the coffee trade in Seattle.  In my experience, Starbucks, Seattle’s Best Coffee, Dutch Bros, and many other of the not so well known coffee brands are competing for the consumer’s taste buds yet, many of them claim to be “the best coffee”.  Although it is not quite the same, one can see some similarities between how consumers value the information given to them and what this information does to their perception of quality.

I must admit, personally, the olive oil we have in Sorento is hands down the best I have ever tasted. Ever.