USA - GETTING AWAY WITH IT THERE, AS WELL

What does the word 'Pompeian' convey to you? Someone or something from Pompeii? And where is Pompeii? It is on the shin of the leg that is Italy - that is, on the left side down from Rome.

If you saw a bottle of olive oil on a supermarket shelf with the word POMPEIAN on the label, would you not tend to assume that the oil came from, well, if not Pompeii, then Italy? Italy is a place famous for the quality of its olive oil, is it not? But, as you will see, this olive oil doesn't come from Italy at all.

This label is very, very similar in its intent, to that of Napolina, an olive oil product (featured in a recent post of mine) that appears to come from Italy but doesn't. This Pompeian olive oil label doesn't bear the colours of the flag of Italy, as does Napolina but it does have a picture of a very typical Italian scene, hills and cypress trees - but, to be fair, other countries can boast of similar views. Nevertheless if you look at this label, at first sight you would take this to be Italian, I think.

If the bottle above is turned around you will see that the actual source of the olive oil - or rather sources - are quite some distance from Italy. The marketers of this product are very coy indeed about the sources so they print them in the tiniest of script. In fact, when I  borrowed this bottle from an American kitchen I could not actually read the text but my camera is pretty good at close-up shots and it allows me to enlarge the picture. You may read it below quite easily. You will note that the sources are given in a simple code that is explained in the text. You just have to be able to read it with normal vision, that's all. And most of us can't I suspect.

On the third line you see (with the benefit of my enlargement) the letters ES, CL and TU. The explanation below - in the tiniest of tiny print - tells us that this is SPAIN, CHILE and TUNISIA.

And this ain't Italy. So, once again we see a case of deception. It is not criminal - because the source of the contents are stated - but, but ... take another look at the name of the product and the whole appearance of the label. Obviously there is profit to be made in the olive oil business where some sources are able to charge more for their olive oil than others and where the product being sold is a blended product. It's a bit like selling a wine labelled as French Wine when it is a blend of wine from Mr and Mrs French who live in Manchester and mix together wine from, shall we say, Spain, Chile and Tunisia (and where Mr French is wearing a beret and Mrs French is wearing underwear made from the French flag).