Scammers brought sunflower oil from Bulgaria and sold it as olive oil

Father and son were arrested by Thessaloniki authorities on charges of producing and distributing adulterated olive oil.

According to an investigation by Thessaloniki authorities, two men, a 36-year-old son and an 80-year-old father, set up a workshop for the preparation and packaging of “olive oil”. The final product was falsified. The “extra virgin olive oil” they were selling was actually sunflower oil with dyesgiving it a resemblance to olive.

The raw material (sunflower oil) was imported from Bulgaria and then, using appropriate pigments, was sold as “extra virgin olive oil” with various labels from the regions of Greece and sent to the market in Bulgaria and our country.

During an investigation carried out on 02/12 at the warehouse of a food wholesale company located in the municipality of Delta, with the assistance of EFET specialists from the Central Macedonia Regional Authority for Control and Consumer Protection, the following was discovered and seized:

6,644 liters of adulterated olive oil, contained in 5- and 3-liter containers labeled “extra virgin olive oil” from various companies,
6500 liters of sunflower oil in seven plastic containers,
many labels with the inscription “Extra virgin olive oil” (Εξαιρετικό παρθένο ελαιόλαδο”),
a complex and efficient installation for filling and preparing oil, consisting of pipelines and tanks containing a liquid of unknown chemical composition and dubious quality.,
9035 empty metal containers and 358 plastic containers for storing oils (cans),
various documentation,
truck.

Those arrested were released. However, when the results of the tests conducted by the Main Department of Chemistry become known, the prosecutor’s office will decide on criminal punishment for the swindlers.