European food safety in doubt after cooking oil seizure

The safety of Europe's food was called into question this week when police in Italy and Spain seized contaminated cooking oil being sold as high-end products.

Around 5,000 liters of the adulterated counterfeit oil were seized in coordinated raids that led to the arrest of 11 people suspected of being part of an international criminal gang.

Spain's Guardia Civil, Italy's Carabinieri and the European Union's law enforcement agency Europol centered the raids on olive oil factories in the Spanish provinces of Ciudad Real, Jaen, and Cordoba after the authorities inspected a truckload of cooking oil and found it to be defective.