SFist Investigates: Olive Oil Fraud- by Tiffany Maleshefski
For a couple of years now, enterprising crooks have been fooling American consumers with fraudulent incarnations of extra virgin olive oil; diluting the pure, unadulterated, stuff with soybean, hazelnut, and peanut oils, cheapo vegetable oils, and even lampante. Also known as "lamp oil," lampante is the term used to describe the oil squeezed from olives that have fallen from the tree. In other words, the crappy discarded stuff that's been mashed around in the ground a bit. The impure product is then labeled "EVOO" and sold at a heavily discounted price, usually more than half the price of its authentic competitors.Ramekins, the cooking school / bed and breakfast in Sonoma, where olive oil fraud was the slippery topic of the evening.
And especially in this economy, where the idea of buying $25 bottles of olive oil isn't incredibly appetizing, spying a huge jug of the stuff on the bottom shelf for the bargain-basement rate of $9.99 seems like one amazingly awesome deal. Except, chances are it's probably not the real thing. Fraud in the industry was, not surprisingly, a hot topic at the Feast of the Olives dinner that took place in Sonoma over the weekend. One of many events held to celebrate the county's three-month olive festival was a massive, seven-course feast at
here.) The bill will also sets about enforce regulations similar to those overseen by the International Olive Oil Council based in Spain. Olives are Sonoma Valley's second largest crop after grapes; in fact, Napa and Sonoma counties are home to 150 olive oil producers and 375 olive tree growers throughout the state. It's still only 1 percent of the 70 million gallons of olive oil this country consumes each year, but domestic olive oil isn't the issues. See, when olive oil is imported into the U.S. it's not super high on the FDA's radar for purity testing. So? A lot of devious oils gets through. The event shed some light on the importance of Senate Bill 634, which aims to get down on paper legal definitions for "virgin," "extra-virgin" and "olive pomace" oil, among other things. (You can read more about the bill
Enter savvy New Englander Luciano Sclafani, who has been blowing the lid on this whole EVOO shitstorm. If not for Sclafani, we could be guzzling a whole host of watered down oils, loaded with products we didn't mean to purchase. His company, Gus Sclafani Corp., sells all kinds of gourmet Italian products, like San Marzano tomatoes and pasta. The product nearest and dearest to his heart, however, is the one-liter bottles of Frantoia EVOO, which retails for $25. Scalfani believes in the product so much, he takes a shot of it everyday, and says its what keeps his hair full and luxurious at 62 years of age.He sensed trouble when he saw a competitor's three-liter tin of "EVOO" selling for $9.99.Since then the FDA has cracked down on fake EVOO and seized more than 10,000 cases of olive oil from storage facilities in New York and New Jersey, worth more than $700,000 in 2007.
More than a commitment to keeping consumers safe from rip-offs, the regulations will keep consumers safe from possible allergic reactions that could happen if all the ingredients are not disclosed. Think nut oils. What's worse, if Sclafani is right on the whole hair-rejuvenation thing, there could be millions of men out there who are sucking down oil and finding themselves gaining thick waistlines instead of hairlines.
4 comments:
I think this or at least some of their products are under the KORC hashgocho from San Francisco. Is that a reliable hashgocho bederech klal?
http://news.aol.com/article/national-recall-targets-plum-organics/723714
WASHINGTON (Oct. 20) - Plum Organics of Emeryville, Calif., is recalling some of its apple and carrot portable pouch baby food because of concerns over possible botulism contamination.
The product was sold individually throughout the country at Toys-R-Us and Babies-R-Us stores. The recalled product is sold in 4.22-ounce pouches, with a "best by" date of May 21, 2010, and UPC 890180001221.
Rubashkin's mechutan Meshulam Weiss was giving the hashgocho on Doheny Meat Market in Los Angeles.
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20091020/NEWS/910200356/-1/SPORTS12
A lawyer for former eastern Iowa meat plant executive Sholom Rubashkin suggested in court Monday that one of Rubashkin's largest customers shoveled money into the slaughterhouse to avoid taxes.
Michael Engelman, owner of the Doheny Kosher Meat Market in Los Angeles, denied any wrongdoing. But he acknowledged that he had offered "advance payments" for meat during his 20-year relationship with Agriprocessors Inc. in Postville.
The questions by defense attorney F. Montgomery Brown were an attempt to discredit Engelman as a witness in the government's financial fraud case against Rubashkin. Engelman was one of six former customers of Agriprocessors, now Agri Star, who testified against Rubashkin on Monday.
Engelman told jurors that the most he ever owed the plant for meat at one time was $300,000 to $400,000. Prosecutors contend that Rubashkin falsified sales records to show that Doheny owed more than $1 million, in an attempt to defraud his plant's lender.
Brown later asked Engelman about the money sent to Agriprocessors.
"I understand what's going on here," Brown said, and accused Engelman of putting money in Agriprocessors "to avoid taxes."
"I filed my taxes every year," Engelman said.
Rubashkin, 49, faces 91 federal charges including mail, wire and bank fraud, money laundering and ignoring an order to pay livestock providers on time. He has pleaded not guilty.
Whether customers actually bought meat is a core issue of the federal bank fraud charges. Prosecutors allege that Rubashkin ordered an sales employee to draft invoices for transactions that never took place, which he then used to obtain cash advances from the plant's lender. Defense lawyers say the sales records were legitimate.
Brown's questioning took an unusual turn when a man in the public gallery started making a "timeout" gesture to Engelman.
Engelman asked for a break and left the room with the man, later identified as his accountant and lawyer, Yosef Y. Manela.
U.S. District Judge Linda Reade later asked Manela not to signal to his client while he testified. Minutes later, Manela mouthed the word "no" to his client and nodded while Brown continued his questions.
Doug Berkhouse, a controller for Colorado Meat Packers Inc., told jurors that his employer "absolutely did not order" 50 shipments of beef, despite sales records at Agriprocessors that Rubashkin allegedly used.
http://www.wcfcourier.com/news/local/article_c1783558-bda9-11de-951d-001cc4c002e0.html
The St. Louis bank that was allegedly defrauded by former eastern Iowa slaughterhouse executive Sholom Rubashkin continued to lend to the meat plant even after federal agents arrested one-third of its workers.
First Bank Business Capital sent the kosher meat plant four loan payments totaling $3.45 million after a May 2008 immigration raid, according to documents and testimony by a bank executive.
Gary Pratte, a First Bank vice president, said borrowers such as Agriprocessors were routinely monitored by bank employees. When pressed by defense lawyer Guy Cook, he said he had not reviewed the loan himself.
"I have thousands of calls to make each day, and I can't read every loan document," he said.
Defense lawyers also showed jurors an e-mail between the bank's senior credit officer, Phil Lykens, and former Agriprocessors financial officer Toby Bensasson, who pleaded guilty to a fraud conspiracy charge in August.
Lykens tells Bensasson in the e-mail that he will try to raise the plant's loan, then adds: "By the way, tell Sholom that I cooked two of his steaks last night and they were wonderful."
Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Deegan later questioned Pratte about steaks he had received.
"Were they any good?" Deegan asked.
Pratte shrugged. "We ate one, and my wife threw the other one away."
There is improper language in the same sentence as Luciano Sclafani that you should edit out.
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