Simon Hunter
A USER of the social network TikTok has shared a startling discovery while visiting a supermarket in the southern Spanish city of Sevilla. Instead of stocking bottles of olive oil on its shelves, the establishment had replaced the real thing with photos to avoid thefts.
“I went to a supermarket and found this,” user @maarviid08 explains in the recording. “Because oil is so expensive, they’re not even putting out the bottles. There are placards and you have to ask for them at the till to get them.”
The user also points to empty five-litre bottles of oil at the bottom of the shelves, so that shoppers can at least see what they would be buying before ordering at the cash register.
The video, which was shared nearly a week ago, has racked up nearly 67,000 ‘likes’ and nearly 2,000 comments.
“We are living in an episode of Black Mirror,” wrote one user, while another joked that “jewellers have lower levels of security!”
Prices of olive oil have been rising steadily in Spain since 2023, after olive production fell by more than half during the 2022-23 season due to low rainfall and other meteorological factors.
Spain is the largest producer of olive oil in the world, doubling the production of Greece and Italy combined. One in every two bottles of olive oil sold globally is produced in Spain.
Read more:
- Olive oil mafia which ‘sold fake extra virgin shipments abroad’ is exposed following raids in Spain and Italy
- The runaway cost of Spain’s ‘liquid gold’
- Scorching heatwaves in Spain threaten olive oil production, says government minister
