With olive oil prices still elevated, the 17-liter container could provide a practical solution.

However, will olive oil containers become illegal, with authorities cracking down on those who use them, imposing fines of up to €5,000? Will the local producer be treated like the “Pablo Escobar” of olive oil?

“No,” answers Christos Dimas, Deputy Minister of Economy and Finance, firmly dismissing any changes to the current regulations. He emphasizes that nothing has changed from what was previously known.

The government’s new package of measures is not targeting the 15, 16, and 17-liter containers, but rather focusing on combatting tax evasion and fraud related to olive oil. This is the first real effort to protect the national product, aiming to address the widespread issue of exporting olive oil, repackaged and rebranded abroad as a local product of the country where it’s standardized.

So, what does the current law say, and what will change?

According to existing legislation, which is harmonized with European standards, olive oil cannot be packaged in containers larger than 5 liters for commercialization. However, while it’s prohibited to sell it in large cans, this does not apply to oil stored for personal use, professional distribution, or when sold directly by the producer, provided that proper documentation is available.

Informally, the practice of moving small quantities of olive oil among family and friends, common in Greece, has not been, and will not be, targeted by authorities.

“The movement of small quantities is an informal practice in Greece,” says Christos Dimas. “For those who wish to be fully legal, they can use smaller 5-liter packages.” The Deputy Minister of Economy and Finance also reassured the public during an interview with ERT: “We have no plans to change the transportation of olive oil in cans. What has been circulating in the last few days is not true. The regulatory framework for transporting olive oil has been in place since 2017.”

Dimas further clarified, “The transportation of small quantities of olive oil between friends and family remains informal and is not subject to violations. This issue has been exaggerated, and I want to reassure the public: no changes are being made.”

The focus is now on the standardization process and cracking down on fraud.

What the Ministry of Economy and Finance is concerned about, the priority is to promote standardization, that is, to increase exports of standardized Greek olive oil, which, anyway, is a sought-after product (because of its high quality) around the world. Christos Dimas explains that from May 2025 what changes is the strictness of controls on olive oil marketing companies. From that date, he explains, “businesses are required to have zero discrepancy in their electronic books. It is an important tool that helps in the fight against tax evasion. For the issue of olive oil and in particular for this sector already last year, from 2024, an extension has been signed. So nothing changes compared to the current status quo and that is the point. We do not want to have the large-scale distribution of bulk olive oil or even the sale of Greek olive oil to foreign countries where they standardize it and have much greater wealth.”

Another issue for the Greek – and not only – authorities is the fight against the adulteration of “liquid gold”, which is taking on very large proportions throughout Europe, as long as its prices remain at very high levels. “Unfortunately, the adulteration of extra virgin olive oil is a common practice, so combating it is a law enforcement priority – especially in the producing countries,” Europol said.

According to the latest available data (H1 2024), in the first months of last year, more than 50 cases of adulterated or contaminated olive oil attempting to be sold as “extra virgin” were detected across the EU, compared to just 15 such cases in 2018. For the immediately preceding year, of the 182 cases of olive oil fraud detected by the authorities, the three “leading” countries were Italy (41 cases), Spain (41), and Greece (39).

The unfortunate thing is that in many cases, these cases of adulteration do not “simply” involve concentrated sunflower oil mixed with paint in tanks and sold as “extra virgin olive oil”. Cases have been identified such as the 260 tonnes of ‘lampante’ oil, which is unfit for human consumption and is used only as fuel for oil lamps, imported into Germany as ‘virgin olive oil’, Greek olive oil in which prohibited pesticides had been used and which, when it should have been discarded, was found in Bulgaria for export to Germany and the Netherlands, oil which turned out to have been used for frying (!) sunflower oil that had been mixed with olive oil and sold as “virgin”, and even oils adulterated with mineral oils (!).

Oil producers: “We… “Oil producers: the middlemen are taking our oil out of us”

Olive oil prices continue to be high, while olive growers complain as they are asked to sell the year’s oil from 4.8 to 5 euros per liter (with production costs at around 4.5 euros), but on the shelves, it reaches prices of 9.50 to 15, approximately euros.

As for the olive oil container, prices for virgin and extra virgin olive oil from this year’s harvest range between 120 and 175 euros, lower than last October -which marks the beginning of the harvest season- when the starting price for tin was around 140 euros. To this, add the price of an empty tin can, which ranges from 4 to 5 euros.