What the EU audit found (in plain English)

The report is titled “Control systems for olive oil in the EU – A comprehensive framework, but unevenly applied.” That subtitle matters. The issue is not that rules don’t exist. The issue is that enforcement is inconsistent.

• Minimum quality checks are not always met in some major markets, especially for category checks that verify “extra virgin” status.
• Some lab testing is incomplete, which increases the chance that non-compliant oil slips through.
• Sanctions are not always dissuasive, and in some places enforcement is slow.
• Imported olive oil is not systematically tested for pesticides and other contaminants in the member states examined.
• Traceability can break down once oils cross borders or are blended across multiple origins.

The report also highlights something most serious producers already know: many “extra virgin” failures are linked to degradation over time (heat, light, storage), not only overt fraud. That is still a quality failure for the buyer, and it is common in long, high-volume supply chains.

“Olive oil fraud” is often a supply-chain problem

When people hear olive oil fraud, they picture blatant adulteration. That does happen in the world. But the EU audit focuses heavily on how category failures show up in real checks: sensory panels identify far more non-compliance than chemical tests, and a meaningful share is consistent with oils aging out of spec.

In practice, the biggest risk to the consumer is not a single villain. It’s the structure of the market: bulk movement, blending, long storage, long “best before” windows, and thin inspection coverage relative to volume. A label can be technically compliant at bottling and still fail your kitchen test six months later.

Why small Croatian farms are easier to trust

Croatia is not one of the EU’s industrial olive oil powerhouses. That is exactly why it can be better for quality. In the Zadar region, production is often family-scale: smaller groves, short distances to the mill, and limited runs that don’t need to be blended into anonymity.

On a small farm, accountability is physical: the same people who harvest the olives taste the oil, store it, and decide what gets bottled. If a batch is weak, it can’t be hidden inside a larger blend. If the oil is mishandled, the producer notices quickly because they live with the product.

This is why “local” isn’t just marketing. It’s a control system. It reduces the number of handoffs where quality quietly disappears.

How Selo sources Croatian extra virgin olive oil

Selo Olive Oil exists for a simple reason: we want extra virgin that tastes alive, not just extra virgin on paper. We work with authentic family tradition producers in Croatia’s Zadar region and avoid commodity-style sourcing.

• Direct relationships with small producers, not brokers.
• Limited-run bottling instead of wide blending across regions and harvests.
• Freshness-first mindset, because degradation is real and it is common in mass retail supply chains.
• Traceability you can understand: fewer links, fewer documents, fewer places for the story to break.

None of this replaces regulation, and we are not against standards. The point is simpler: the EU audit shows controls can be uneven in practice. When the system is uneven, the best hedge is shorter distance between you and the farm.

If you’re buying extra virgin, here’s the safest mental model

Treat extra virgin as something that must be protected, not a label that protects itself. If you want a higher chance of real extra virgin quality:

1. Prefer small farms over anonymous blends.
2. Prefer short supply chains over multi-country sourcing.
3. Assume heat and light are the silent killers of quality.
4. Buy oil that is meant to be used, not displayed for months.

That’s the logic behind Selo, and it’s why we bet on Croatian olive oil from the Zadar region.