It has been a rough few months for VW, their emissions test scandal set to cost the company billions and do irreparable brand damage. So what could olive oil have done that is so bloody bad then?

Well apparently some of the world’s biggest brands have been lying through their teeth, that so-called extra virgin olive oil not really living up to its name. Esquire with more:

Italian media first discovered the alleged fraud…and a consumer protection organisation later picked up the case. Of 20 brands tested in a laboratory, nine were said to contain lesser-quality olive oil. The other brands named in the investigation are Antica Badia, Carapelli, Coricelli, [Bertolli] and Sasso.

“The damage caused by this deceit is enormous, not just for consumers but also for the entire country and for the image of products that are made in Italy,” said Rosario Trefiletti, the president of Federconsumatori, a consumer association in Italy. Italy is the world’s second biggest olive oil exporter, behind Spain.

Maybe you’d like to reach into your cupboard and see what brand you have sitting on the shelf? We know that the good stuff doesn’t come cheap but, at least for some very well-known Italian brands, many consumers haven’t been getting their money’s worth.

An Italian lying about being extra virgin, who would have thought?

[source:esquire]