3 ms·

Am i naive to think we're better off in Europe?

ddebernardy 10y ago
Probably not. There's still fraud, mind you, e.g.: http://www.laprovence.com/article/papier/4052849/des-olives-despagne-cachees-dans-lhuile-provencale.html http://www.laprovence.com/article/papier/4052849/des-olives-... But we've stricter controls in place (because of Appellation-related laws) and offenders get fined or jailed.
- wott 10y ago
  Though that's a fraud on the origin of the olives, not on the quality of the olives or oil (quality of the oil made of olives of fraudulent origin may have in fact been higher than the usual one :-) ).
haddr 10y ago
In Europe Olive oil is also one of the most faked type of food.
- dunk010 10y ago
  Citation?
  - ygra 10y ago
    Faked would be too much to say, but the German Stiftung Warentest tested 26 different olive oils recently and found that none of them were correctly labelled [½]. For the most part this concerned the alleged origin country, but there were also several with contaminants. Nothing health-endangering, but still not allowed to be labelled "Natives Olivenöl Extra" (the highest quality category of olive oil). No mention of blends with other types of oil, though. ____________ [½] https://www.test.de/Olivenoel-Jedes-zweite-im-Test-ist-mangelhaft-4971053-0/?mc=kurzurl.olivenoel https://www.test.de/Olivenoel-Jedes-zweite-im-Test-ist-mange...
    - Noseshine 10y ago
      Actually, I think you make it sound too nice. The test results are actually pretty bad. Overall that test wasn't really all that useful though - they tested very few products. It's a tiny sample. One thing to note: They mention that for each 1,000 tons of olive oil only one sample has to be drawn and tested - which shows how little we really know about the quality, and low the probability is to be caught. Given that I don't believe Europeans are "better people" than Americans or anyone else I think it's safe to assume there are plenty of cases of fraud we know nothing about. For Germany in particular I have this anecdote: An Italian friend of mine used to do whole-sale import food to Germany for Italian food producers. He told me that they export the "good stuff" to countries like Spain and France - and the bad but cheap stuff to Germany. He told me Germans and therefore German importers care about price first of all.
mslot 10y ago
Well, we can buy mozzarella that's actually mozzarella, so that's something.

Probably not. There's still fraud, mind you, e.g.: http://www.laprovence.com/article/papier/4052849/des-olives-despagne-cachees-dans-lhuile-provencale.html http://www.laprovence.com/article/papier/4052849/des-olives-... But we've stricter controls in place (because of Appellation-related laws) and offenders get fined or jailed.

wott 10y ago
Though that's a fraud on the origin of the olives, not on the quality of the olives or oil (quality of the oil made of olives of fraudulent origin may have in fact been higher than the usual one :-) ).

haddr 10y ago

In Europe Olive oil is also one of the most faked type of food.

dunk010 10y ago
Citation?
- ygra 10y ago
  Faked would be too much to say, but the German Stiftung Warentest tested 26 different olive oils recently and found that none of them were correctly labelled [½]. For the most part this concerned the alleged origin country, but there were also several with contaminants. Nothing health-endangering, but still not allowed to be labelled "Natives Olivenöl Extra" (the highest quality category of olive oil). No mention of blends with other types of oil, though. ____________ [½] https://www.test.de/Olivenoel-Jedes-zweite-im-Test-ist-mangelhaft-4971053-0/?mc=kurzurl.olivenoel https://www.test.de/Olivenoel-Jedes-zweite-im-Test-ist-mange...
  - Noseshine 10y ago
    Actually, I think you make it sound too nice. The test results are actually pretty bad. Overall that test wasn't really all that useful though - they tested very few products. It's a tiny sample. One thing to note: They mention that for each 1,000 tons of olive oil only one sample has to be drawn and tested - which shows how little we really know about the quality, and low the probability is to be caught. Given that I don't believe Europeans are "better people" than Americans or anyone else I think it's safe to assume there are plenty of cases of fraud we know nothing about. For Germany in particular I have this anecdote: An Italian friend of mine used to do whole-sale import food to Germany for Italian food producers. He told me that they export the "good stuff" to countries like Spain and France - and the bad but cheap stuff to Germany. He told me Germans and therefore German importers care about price first of all.

mslot 10y ago

Well, we can buy mozzarella that's actually mozzarella, so that's something.