According to World Health Organisation (WHO) data, some 25 per cent of the total amount of alcohol consumed around the world each year is ‘unrecorded’ – or illicit – resulting in a substantial loss in government tax revenues and exposing drinkers to potentially very harmful contaminants. In recognition of these problems, analytical techniques like spectroscopy have emerged as an important means of testing counterfeit beverages.

Italy and Spain are two of the biggest producers of olives for olive oil in the world, but disease and drought have put the industry under strain in the past year. This has driven up prices of olive oil to their highest in a decade according to The Independent. The newspaper stated at the start of the year that production would fall from 3.27 million tons produced in 2013/2014 to 2.39 million tons in 2014/2015 with a metric ton costing $4,281.95, a rise of around $600 since the end of 2013.