The olive oil crisis has triggered fraud. This is how science is helping to solve the problem

Last week we had news that a series of operations by the Civil Guard against the food fraud. Operations that resulted in at least 32 arrests and up to 2,200 administrative violations.

2024 has been a year in which news of this type has not been scarce. It is not surprising that the increase in prices caused by last year’s poor harvest, in turn linked to the drought situation experienced between 2023 and 2024, provided ideal conditions for the proliferation of this type of scam.

In cases such as the recently dismantled plot in Bizkaia, the samples were sent to an organoleptic laboratory, where analysis of the samples is carried out. Organoleptic analyzes are based on the properties of a product that we can perceive through our senses: color, aroma, viscosity or flavor.

One of the common strategies in counterfeiting oils is to sell seed oils (such as sunflower oil) for olive oil. Camouflaging the more transparent color of the oil is relatively simple with dyes based on chlorophyll and carotenes. However, these frauds have a harder time replicating the aroma of olive oil, a marked aroma due to the presence of chemicals we know as polyphenols.

Organoleptic analyzes are a key tool when detecting food fraud, but they are not the only one. In the last year, different research groups have focused their efforts on the study and development of laboratory techniques that allow us to speed up the detection of this type of fraud.

In June of this year, an Iranian team of researchers published a study in the journal Journal of Agriculture and Food Research in which they were looking for cutting-edge techniques when identifying adulteration of olive oils. In the study they presented some of these developments, such as nuclear magnetic resonance, chromatrography, DNA-based methods and “electronic noses.”

The team points out how each of these tools allows the analysis to be carried out in a particular way. For example, NMR allows us to detect the composition and chemical structure of oils, while DNA analysis allows us to study the oil through genetics.

Chromatrography, the “electronic noses” are based on the automation of the analysis of the organoleptic properties, color and aroma/flavor, of the oil to be studied. The use of various chemometric analysis tools allows teams to more accurately analyze samples.

Another similar work, this one carried out by a team from the University of Jaén and published in the magazine TrAC Trends in Analytical Chemistry carried out another review of methods for oil authentication. In this case the study was focused on virgin olive oil and tools based on spectrometry.

Among the tools studied were chromatographic systems linked to mass spectrometry (MS), direct use of MS through different ionization sources, or elemental analyzes based on MS, explains the team responsible for the study. These tools can be used not only to detect adulterations such as mixing with poorer quality oils, but also to verify the origin of the oil or distinguish between different commercial categories, the group adds.

Science continues to advance. Another study published this year, this one by researchers at Ghent University and published in the journal Current Research in Food Scienceproposed a new technique to detect adulteration of olive oils. This is based on the integration of near-infrared hyperspectral images with machine learning techniques (Machine learning).

The situation in the olive oil market has made the fight against food fraud more necessary than ever. It is not just about economic damage for producers and consumers: sometimes oil adulteration can put our health at risk.

Although below the problems due to non-compliance with regulations and fraud, part of the cases detected by the European authorities that monitor the quality of oils sold in the Union are related to food safety. As these are clandestine operations, there is no guarantee that the adulterated oils can comply with current health standards, which implies an additional risk associated with the sale and consumption of these products.

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