An illustrator and art director of the New York Times Book Review, Nicholas Blechman, has created an interactive infographic titled ‘Extra Virgin Suicide’.
In ‘Extra Virgin Suicide’, he discusses ‘the adulteration of Italian olive oil’.
Using minimal graphics and animations, Blechman explains that most of the ‘Italian’ olive oil does not come from Italy, but from other countries including Spain, Morocco and Tunisia.
The entire process is not as transparent as it is thought to be, as some shipments of olive oil are even be mixed with cheaper oils and colored to appear like olive oil.
An estimated 69% of ‘extra virgin’ olive oil imported to the United States could be fake, and that has resulted in a drop in olive oil prices, causing corrupt producers to face the consequences of their own doing.
Who would have known that the olive oil we have in our kitchens could come from such troubling backgrounds?
Click here to visit the interactive infographic.
[via New York Times]