Extra virgin?

Climate change may primarily be harming future generations, but it is also affecting La Nonna’s ability to prepare tasty meals. Olive oil prices have skyrocketed recently, rising by an average of 50% in early 2024 across the EU, following droughts and heatwaves in Mediterranean countries, along with diseases caused by the bacterium Xylella fastidiosa. In Spain, the world’s largest producer, production halved in 2023.

The situation encourages fraud, a profitable and less risky alternative to the traditional undertakings of organised crime. Less valuable olive oils are being labeled as extra virgin, their country of origin is misrepresented, or other oils altogether are mixed in or colored to look the part. In the first quarter of 2024, the European Union registered a record number of fraud and mislabeling cases.

Source: Statista, EU Commission, The Guardian, M. Shahbandeh, September 2024.