Greek police have arrested a father and son who had counterfeited thousands of litres of olive oil. They bought sunflower oil in Bulgaria and then added a green dye to it, making it look like olive oil. The olive harvest in southern Europe was under pressure last year due to heat and drought.
Greek police raided a warehouse in Thessaloniki last week, where they found a total of 13 tons of oil: about half was adulterated olive oil, while the other half was regular sunflower oil.
Two men, an 80-year-old man and his 36-year-old son, were arrested on suspicion of violating food laws. After questioning, they were provisionally released.
The two men always worked in the same way. In Bulgaria, they bought sunflower oil, to which they then added dye to obtain the typical greenish color of olive oil. Then they put a label on the barrels saying 'extra virgin olive oil', claiming that the oil was produced in Greece.
Thousands of empty cans were found in the warehouse. The counterfeit olive oil was sold in both Greece and Bulgaria.
Greece, which is one of the world's five largest olive producers, along with Italy and Spain, had a very bad year last year. Due to heat waves and drought, farmers only managed to harvest half of their usual olive crop.
Prices also rose by as much as 110 percent compared to the previous year. In addition to counterfeiting, there were also break-ins and thefts in warehouses here and there to steal oil and/or olives. In early October last year, Spanish police seized 74 tons of stolen olives in Seville, and thieves in Greece stole 37,000 liters of olive oil.