Happiness is an avocado, but not because it has flavor

 The fruit is of itself very insipid, for which reason they generally eat it with the juice of lemons and sugar, to give it a poignancy.

-- Phillip Miller (1691-1771)

The Extra Virgin Olive Oil scam strikes Italy hard: Bertolli, Santa Sabina, Primadonna, Antica Badia, Carapelli, Coricelli and Sasso all accused

From the report here:

"The producers caught up in the investigation include big names such as Bertolli, Santa Sabina, Primadonna, which is sold through the discount supermarket chain Lidl, and Antica Badia, which is sold through another cheap supermarket chain, Eurospin. The others are Carapelli, Coricelli and Sasso. They are accused of passing off the slightly lower quality virgin olive oil as extra-virgin – the highest quality and the most expensive." 

I've used two of the named companies' products myself and have to say they were quite disappointing, insipid in fact, just lamp oil. My olive oil of choice continues to be Filippo Berio in the 3-litre can. The can clearly states "Packed in Italy with oils of Italy, Spain, Greece and Tunisia". It's not "pure Italian" and doesn't pretend to be. It claims to be "green-gold", which it is, not pure green. The flavor, color and aroma is acceptable for the price, which is sometimes as low as $20, about $7 per litre. Is it really "extra virgin"? They say so.