Rome, 23 Dec. (AKI) – Italy’s five-billion-euro olive oil business is a fraud, according to a Friday report in the La Repubblica newspaper.

Eighty percent of the country’s oil carrying the label “Made in Italy” is mixed with lower quality Spanish, Tunisian and Greek oil, the article said, citing an ongoing investigation by different police agencies in collaboration with Italian agriculture trade group Coldiretti.

Italy exports 250 thousand metric tons of oil every year, but imports total 470 thousand tons. Last year oil imports jumped by 100 thousand tons, prompting authorities to ask where it ended up.

Italians and the foreigners worldwide are fooled into thinking they are buying olive oil from the world’s most celebrated producer, according to La Repubblica.

“There’s a group of powerful people in the agriculture business that are making an illegal fortune from the untraceable mixed olive oils,” said Coldiretti consumer protection head Stefano Masini, saying it’s time to talk about an “agro-mafia.”

“Made in Italy” is a coveted label that has come under fire for misleading and outright lying to consumers. Some luxury clothing brands have been accused of manufacturing their goods in China except for the “last stitch” which is done in Italy, allowing them to say their goods were made in Italy.

The report said allied importers and distributers – sometimes belonging to the same companies – have formed a “cartel” of operating mostly in Italy’s central and southern regions that set prices.

“They control the prices, they control the market,” it said.