The EU’s auditor has called for more robust checks on olive oil after identifying “shortcomings” in the bloc’s monitoring systems for quality and safety.
“While the member states’ checks for pesticide residues in olive oil originating from EU countries are clear and generally work well, those for other contaminants are less developed, and some rules – such as those on blending and traceability checks – are not sufficiently clear,” the European Court of Auditors (ECA) said in a report issued yesterday (14 January).
The EU is the world’s largest producer of olive oils but does import around 9% of its requirement, according to the ECA, which has found inconsistencies on checks from overseas suppliers.
It said monitoring of imports for pesticides and other contaminants is “either non-existent or sporadic in the EU countries they visited” – Belgium, Greece, Italy, and Spain – from 2018 to 2023.
Joëlle Elvinger, the ECA member who headed up the audit, said: “While the EU has robust rules, they are not always fully applied. Improving checks, traceability, and legal clarity is essential to protect not only consumers but also the reputation of European olive oil.
“Consumers must be able to trust the quality and authenticity of the olive oil they buy.”
The shortcomings were identified despite tight internal regulations on the quality and safety of olive oil, where certain EU “requirements” must be met, including on traceability, before products can be placed on the market.
Individual countries are responsible for their own checks and control systems, which also include minimum requirements for pesticide testing and verifying labels, along with laboratory analysis and tasting, or organoleptic tests.
However, the ECA said it found “some conformity checks are incomplete, and parts of the market are sometimes excluded from risk-based inspections”, adding: “This leaves gaps in the system that can affect quality and, ultimately, consumer confidence.”
While checks for pesticide residues are “well established” and effective in the EU, monitoring for “other contaminants are inconsistent”, the auditor said.
The ECA suggested EU member states should follow the example of Spain and Italy – the world’s largest olive oil producers – which have traceability measures in place throughout the supply chain conducted via electronic registers.
Such measures would help “boost transparency and prevent fraud”, the ECA said, although it acknowledged cross-border checks are “difficult”, especially when monitoring olive oil from multiple origins.
Spain, Italy and Greece account for around 91% of the EU’s olive oil production, according to the ECA.
It also called for conformity when checking legal requirements over blending, some of which “lack clarity” as the ECA suggested the European Commission needs to tighten its own oversight.
“The European Commission has only a partial understanding of how national control systems operate. Annual reporting and meetings with national authorities do not ensure that all relevant information is shared, thus limiting the Commission’s ability to monitor control systems effectively,” the auditor claimed.
“EU auditors reveal “shortcomings” in olive-oil checks” was originally created and published by Just Food, a GlobalData owned brand.
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