Lidl and Deoleo have been fined by the Italian competition regulator for ‘deceitful’ sales of extra virgin olive oil in the country.

Lidl has been hit with a €550,000 fine for incorrectly labelling its Primadonna brand of extra virgin olive oil.  Meanwhile, Deoleo is facing a €300,000 fine after its Bertolli gentile, Sasso classic, and Carapelli il frantolio ‘extra virgin’ brands were found to be only ‘virgin’ olive oils.

The fines are related to an investigation launched in 2015, following an investigation by a local consumer magazine that found nine of the 20 most popular extra virgin olive oil brands to be falsely labelled.

The new fines are part of the stricter penalties that came into effect this month, which include manufacturers facing fines of up to €15,000 for each instance of incorrect or missing information (up from €2,500 previously).  The stricter fines follow a series of incidents around sales of mislabelled or fake olive oil across Europe.