For years, according to the guidance followed by the Italian authorities, a virgin oil could be mixed with an extra virgin olive oil and, if the final product respected the chemical parameters and passed the tasters’ judgment, arrive on the shelf with the most prized denomination. The bottle, essentially, had a career by weighted average.
Circular number 0347821 of 16 July 2026 changes the Italian orientation: the presence of virgin olive oil is enough for the entire mixture to be classified and labeled in the lower category. Mixing the two oils remains possible. What disappears is the possibility of calling the result extra virgin.
The Ministry of Agriculture presents the provision as a crackdown to protect consumers, olive growers and the quality of Made in Italy. The normative history is a little less solemn. In January, the European Court of Auditors had reported that the Union rules on mixing virgin oils of different categories were unclear and were interpreted differently by Member States.
The Italian authorities had considered the sale of the blend as extra virgin lawful, as long as the final product met all the required requirements. A reading confirmed in 2023 also by the Court of Perugia, in the absence of an explicit ban on mixing between categories. The circular overturns that orientation and establishes a more restrictive line at the national level.
The mixture drops in category even when it passes the analyses
European regulation 2022/2104 clearly distinguishes the two categories. Extra virgin is defined as a “superior category” olive oil, obtained directly from olives and only through mechanical processes. In the description of virgin oil the words “superior category” disappear.
The parameters also change. For extra virgin olive oil, the acidity cannot exceed 0.8%, the median of defects must be zero and the fruitiness must be perceptible. Virgin oil can reach an acidity of 2% and present organoleptic defects within the established limits. It remains an oil obtained directly from olives and intended for food consumption; it simply belongs to a lower qualitative and commercial category.
Until now, the Italian interpretation looked mainly at the point of arrival. If the blend respected all the parameters of extra virgin olive oil, it could take on that name even when one of its components was born virgin. The new criterion also looks inside the tank: an oil already classified in the lower category is no longer promoted thanks to the addition of a sufficient quantity of a better product.
The difference is substantial for bottlers. The blend can still be produced and sold, but it will have to present itself as virgin olive oil. Analyzes will continue to establish whether the product complies with category limits; they will no longer serve to cancel the original classification of the oils used.
The circular mainly concerns label, quality and commercial value
Francesco Lollobrigida linked the new rules to the health and well-being of citizens, as well as the protection of farmers. The call for correct information is well founded. Sanitary oil must be handled with more caution: virgin oil is a food category permitted for consumption and its presence in a mixture does not automatically make it dangerous.
The European Court of Auditors distinguishes between authenticity, safety and traceability. Authenticity concerns the correspondence between the contents of the bottle and the declared category; safety instead concerns potentially harmful contaminants and residues. A blend classified as virgin can be perfectly safe. The problem arises when it is presented with the name of a higher category.
The provision therefore makes the criterion with which the commercial name is assigned more stringent. Those who buy extra virgin olive oil will only have to find oils belonging to that category in the bottle, without virgin components promoted by the final exam.
Blends composed entirely of extra virgin olive oils remain permitted, even when they come from different cultivars, territories and countries. The words “blend of olive oils originating in the European Union” or “originating in the European Union and not originating in the Union” indicate geographical origin, not a lowering of category. A blend of Spanish, Greek and Italian extra virgin olive oils remains extra virgin, as long as all its components are.
The circular makes the boundary between the two categories clearer and intervenes above all on the correctness of the label. Virgin oil remains a food permitted for consumption. What changes is the label: if it enters the mixture, the “extra” remains off the label.
