The General Directorate of Public Health (DGS) of the Spanish region of Extremadura launched this Thursday, through a statement, an alert to the population not to consume certain brands of olive oil, claiming to be at risk to public health.
The brands that so far are under suspicion – Acebuche, Virgen del Guadiana, Cortijo del Oro, La Campiña de Andalucía, Galiaceite 2022, La Abadía, Villa de Jerez, Don Jaén Aceite 2019 and Imperio Andaluz – have been withdrawn in “large quantities” of the market, in the region of Extremadura, “while awaiting the analytical results” on the quality of the product.
The DGS states that the alert came following a complaint made by two consumers who purchased virgin olive oil “outside the province of Badajoz with altered organoleptic characteristics of taste, smell, color and consistency”.
Technicians from this service intervened in various retail establishments located in the region of Andalusia, where they identified numerous batches of olive oil with “significant deficiencies in the labeling and traceability of the product”.
Following this complaint, the Spanish Agency for Food and Nutritional Security (AESAN) also received an alert from the Andalusian health authorities, specifying that companies “without a health registration number” would be “outside official control”, packaging and distributing olive oil adulterated in the region of Extremadura.
The interventions of the Spanish health authorities have already withheld “large quantities of olive oil” in distribution warehouses, fairs, gas stations, among other establishments, stressing that companies “without a health registration number” and, “outside of official control”, pack olive oil “with important deficiencies”, later distributed in Extremadura.
The two Spanish regions border the Alentejo and the proximity of a large number of towns in Extremadura to Portuguese territory has encouraged a large number of national consumers to travel across the border to purchase food products, including olive oil. , because they are cheaper.