Drafted 4 January 2025, updated 25 May 2026
Foreword:
- Altroconsumo is not ‘the Bible’, as Alberto Grimelli points out.
- When I worked at Esselunga, I had always raised questions and objections about this magazine’s price surveys, but unfortunately there were no alternative publications on the market.
- Strange that so many leading brands, such as Aldi, Carrefour or Esselunga (Coop is in the ranking but not mentioned in the piece), are missing from this survey, but so be it, this article – like the one on pasta – should only provide a rough indication of the best oil brands.
- It would be interesting to know who produces for whom (e.g. De Cecco has its own oil but I am not aware of it).
- The origin of the oil is fundamental (read about it: Food fraud on olive oil in Spain. The world’s leading olive oil producer, the Andalusian cooperative Dcoop, has denounced widespread fraud on refined olive oils in Spain. These, according to the vibrant accusation, are in some cases mixed with oils of lower value such as pomace and sunflower oils. ‘We have been silent for 40 years, but we will not allow it any longer,’ said Dcoop president Antonio Luque in a meeting with the media. Inviting the national and regional administrations to investigate traceability, in the face of ‘very solid evidence’.Dcoop Director General Rafael Sánchez in turn reiterated that ‘it is time to put an end’ to this situation and ‘clean up the image of this product to exercise the leadership that Spain deserves’ in the olive oil sector
- To get a clearer picture of the sector, I recommend you read this article or why the oil we put on the table is often bad.
The best olive oil on the supermarket shelf is 100% Italian
Altroconsumo’s analysis of 20 olive oils taken from the shelves found no non-conformities: all extra virgin. On the podium of the best only 100% Italian. The three worst are all private labels
23 December 2024 | 11:00 | Alberto Grimelli
It is news that the consumer magazine Altroconsumo, out of 20 oils taken off the shelf between May and June 2024, then analysed in July, found no non-compliance.
All extra virgin olive oils, according to the Altroconsumo panel. According to the statement, the ‘taste test’ was “carried out according to the methodology defined by law by a panel of experts recognised by the IOC (International Olive Oil Council).”
However, it is not known whether the panel used by Altroconsumo is a panel recognised by the Ministry of Agricultural Policy, and whether it is a professional panel or an official panel. The differences are substantial for the purposes of a correct evaluation of the test, since an unrecognised panel (i.e. a group of 8 tasters, led by a panel head, but without having carried out the harmonisation tests envisaged by Masaf) has a relative value and reliability that instead becomes absolute in the case of an official panel (ICQRF or Customs).
State that the Altroconsumo panel’s assessment is worth 36% of the overall assessment, going into evaluations of individual oils seems risky.
However, it is worth lingering for a minute on the scenario analysis as this provides a picture of the supermarket offer anyway.
The three best oils tested by Altroconsumo are all 100% Italian, in order De Cecco, Filippo Berio and Monini.
The three worst oils tested by Altroconsumo are all EU and all private label, in this order La Badia (Eurospin), Conad and Primadonna (Lidl).
The scenario therefore indicates that, in the last oil campaign, Italian oil was a winner in terms of quality (6 oils in the top 10 positions are all 100% Italian). While EU oils are almost all at the bottom.
It also indicates that large retail chains no longer have much hesitation in using their own brands, private labels, to offer products with a dubious quality/price ratio. This is an interesting development in the market, as in the past it was the bottling companies that were forced to supply borderline oils, in particular for promotions and undercutting but also for very low positioning. Today it is the large-scale retail trade that is the leader in convenience, but at the expense of quality. How much good this policy will do for the image of the brands will have to be verified when deep and detailed shelf monitoring programmes begin, perhaps by the official control authorities.
Given the problematic year on the quality front in Spain, Portugal and Tunisia, the on-shelf offer from early 2025 will certainly be affected by this dynamic and evaluating the care and attention with which buyers have selected their offer will be very interesting.
The real problem is thatonly 45.9% of the extra virgin olive oil (EVO) present in Italy is of domestic production (with exports the % drops even further.
But the signs of the new campaign underway – to autumn 2025 – are fortunately good: Italy is back in second place among the world’s oil producers. Even if it reacts like a commodity to the ongoing speculation, which recently caused the price of Italian olive oil to collapse.
Unfortunately, the weight of our production is decreasing: the share of Italian oil in the world has halved since 2023 and the agricultural area used is decreasing (-7.1%), which means that, even in our country, it will be increasingly difficult to find truly Italian oil in blended products.
And the 100% Italian product will be increasingly niche and more expensive: producing a litre of real extra virgin olive oil in Italy for less than 9 euros per kilo is very difficult.
