Consumer’s association Proteste is warning that five brands of “Portuguese olive oil” sold by Brazilian companies are not fit for human consumption.
The brands are sold under the labels Tradição, Figueira da Foz, Torre de Quintela, Pramesa and Lisboa, reports Diário de Notícias, stressing it is not yet certain “whether the fraud came from the place of origin (Portugal), or in the bottling process which took place in Brazil”.
As Proteste’s Rio de Janeiro representative Juliana Dias told DN, testing was done in accredited laboratory after the oils were purchased anonymously in shops and stores.
Details like “acidity, conservation and quality” were checked, and in all the makes listed above “frauds were detected in the formula”, with the existence of seed oil, as well as “erroneous classification” being paramount.
DN reports that the companies involved are all querying Proteste’s conclusions, suggesting the association is not legally competent to challenge their products.
But the paper stresses that the “theme of food quality” is a hot one in Brazil today, following the “adulterated meat” scandal (click here)
