Steve Firth wrote:
See previous post. I knew that there was something not right about the
supposed Italian extra-virgin olive oil sold in German supermarkets
because it was for sale at prices lower than the guaranteed wholesale price
for the product.

I've seen 'Produced in UK' olive oil from Asda. Unless that was grown on
the arid slopes of the Grampians, I suspect 'Produced' means 'packaged'. My
guess therefore is the cheap extra-virgin is a blend of non-EU - perhaps
Tunisian or Turkish or something. I don't know how the guaranteed price
works - I assumed there's a tariff to stop imported oil undercutting the
fixed price - but maybe they exploit a loophole somewhere.

OTOH olive oil that's not extra virgin is extracted from the dregs of the
olive pits by solvents. I'd rather than cheap extra virgin that is the
first press of the olives by mechanical means than something that's been
chemically processed...

Theo