SORREL DOWNER
Journalist, editor and producer covering society, business, architecture, tourism, rural regeneration, conservation. I work/have worked for The Guardian, Telegraph, Times, Financial Times, Conde Nast Traveller, Business Life, Business Insider, Reader's Digest, Icon Films and the BBC. I also provide consultancy services to international brands.
OLIVE OIL FRAUD
Meant to include a link to this feature on extra virgin olive oil fraud in Italy, written a while back for Reader’s Digest. Fascinating to research the industry in Bari. Honest producers struggle to get quality oils onto supermarket shelves, partly because good oil is expensive to produce and most people don’t want to buy it. The fact the focus of investigations has been on Italy where cheap imports of oil are imported to bulk up the supply of ‘Italian’ and ‘extra virgin’ olive oil, has made it tougher for quality Italian producers to differentiate themselves. But it also means opportunities for Spanish oil, which despite the phenomenal work of artisan producers, is still widely synonymous with bulk produced, low quality. And new markets in the USA and Australia. The article is just a snapshot. I’d highly recommend reading Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil by Tom Mueller, an immensely readable page-turner that has shone a light on fraud most consumers remain oblivious to, since its publication in 2011.
http://www.readersdigest.ca/features/rdi/great-olive-oil-swindle/
