Supermarkets and law enforcement agencies in Spain are grappling with an epidemic of olive oil thefts, with the kitchen staple now the most pilfered item on store shelves.

Police say the surge in thefts of the cooking oil is down to organized criminal gangs targeting the "liquid gold" for resale on the black market, the Financial Times reported.

The product's popularity among thieves has prompted stores to chain five-liter bottles together, or fit them with security tags that can trigger an alarm, the paper said. Jose Izquierdo, a sales manager at supermarket chain Eroski, told Spanish television thieves have responded by using magnetic devices to crack open the security tags.

STC, a security company that works with supermarkets, highlighted the newfound popularity of olive oil after surveying stores and finding it had become the top item on thieves' shopping lists.

Alejandro Alegre, a director at STC, told the Financial Times the selling price of olive oil had shot up after poor olive harvests throughout Europe due to unusually hot and dry weather. He said the cost of the staple made it even more desirable right now than other, frequently stolen, items.

"Olive oil is the only one that could be considered a staple. The others (that are popular) are iberico ham, cured cheeses, razor blades, and alcohol," he told the paper.

Spain is the world's largest producer of olive oil and the product is widely used there for cooking, ahead of alternatives including palm oil, soybean oil, canola oil, and corn oil. But after two years of exceptionally poor weather in southern Europe, global production this year is only expected to amount to 2.4 million metric tons, according to the International Olive Council. That falls well short of the 3 million tons the council says consumers will demand.

The looming shortage has led to a quadrupling of the selling price of olive oil during the past four years, and a clamor for supplies.

Criminals are not only stealing oil from stores, there have also been instances of large-scale thefts from olive growers and from companies that process olives. They have also been caught trying to pass off poor-quality counterfeit products as the real thing.

The oil's expense has also led many people to seek out alternatives, with AP reporting the Piepoli independent research institute had found in a survey that one-third of Italians have now reduced their consumption as a result.

STC said in its survey that the theft of strong alcoholic drinks also continues to be prevalent in Spain, as it is throughout the rest of Europe, but it said Spain is unusual in that thieves there also seem to favor "gourmet" items, including cheese, bonito tuna, and cockles.

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