SALON

Friday, Jul 16, 2010 12:50 AM UTC

Olive oil study questions claims of virginity

Study out of U.C. Davis found 69 percent of foreign olive oils sampled didn't meet "extra-virgin" standards

By

Topics: Food Business, Food,

Many of the olive oils lining supermarket shelves in the United States are not the top-grade extra-virgin oils their labels proclaim, according to a report from the University of California, Davis.

Researchers analyzed popular brands and found 69 percent of imported oils and 10 percent of domestic oils sampled did not meet the international standards that define the pure, cold-pressed, olive oils that deserve the extra-virgin title.

“Consumers, retailers and regulators should really start asking questions,” said Dan Flynn, executive director of UC Davis’ Olive Oil Center, which conducted the study in partnership with the Australian Oils Research Laboratory, in South Wales.

Funding for the study came in part from California olive oil producers and the California Olive Oil Council, a trade group that works to promote locally produced oils.

Although the survey’s sample size was relatively small and selected at random — 19 widely distributed brands purchased from retailers in San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento and Los Angeles — the study held the claims on their labels to a scientifically verifiable standard, said Flynn.

The results came as the U.S. Department of Agriculture prepares to adopted scientifically verifiable standards for nomenclature such as “virgin” or “extra virgin,” in an effort to clear up concerns about labeling accuracy. The standards will be implemented in October, and are similar to those upheld by the International Olive Council.

The “extra-virgin” designation indicates that the oil was extracted without the use of heat or chemicals, is pure, satisfies a taste test and falls within chemical parameters established by the IOC.

The United States is the world’s third-largest consumer of olive oil, 99 percent of which comes from foreign producers.

The North American Olive Oil Association, which represents most olive oil importers, has conducted its own tests for years on the products it imports, and found problems with only one percent of samples, said its president, Bob Bauer.

He also questioned the objectivity of a study financed in part by California olive oil producers.

“The research was done by academics, but with funds supplied by the industry,” Bauer said. “When you look at results that are so different from ours, it does raise some questions.”

The head of the Olive Oil Chemistry and Standardization Unit at the International Olive Council, based in Spain, was not available for comment.

The study found that olive oil from Whole Foods, the country’s largest organic food retailer, failed to meet two of the nine chemical parameters established for extra-virgin olive oil by the IOC. The company said it had not reviewed the study, but that it stands behind their 365 Everyday Value 100 percent Italian Extra-Virgin Olive Oil.

Whole Foods’ supplier performs independent tests meant to ensure the oil “meets our requirements and the industry standards for extra-virgin olive oil,” said spokeswoman Jennifer Marples.

There have long been questions about the quality of some of the olive oil being sold as extra virgin, said Flynn.

Olive oil production is labor intensive and costly. Poor quality oils can be made from olives that are too ripe or damaged. Extra-virgin olive oil is also fragile — it is susceptible to oxidation and degradation of its aromatic compounds due to aging, or to exposure to high temperatures and light.

The delicate nature of the production has led to adulteration, where extra-virgin olive oil was blended with cheaper, refined olive oil, or with seed or nut oils.

The discovery of altered oils in the 1990s led the European Union, which produces much of the world’s supply, to create an investigative task force to look into the matter.

The results of the survey weren’t surprising to Ruth Mercurio, who owns and runs We Olive, a California chain of stores specializing in olive oil.

“It’s sad for consumers that there is fraud out there,” said Mercurio, who has trained in-house tasters to help verify the quality of their product. “It’s a problem, and maybe this will get folks to perk up and listen.”

More Juliana Barbassa.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 4 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
How right-wingers use semantic tricks to kill government -- "...much of the U.S. economic security support system consists of subsidies for the affluent in the form of tax breaks, like those for private retirement savings plans such as 401(k)s and private employer-provided health insurance."
62 points63 points | 3 comments
vote
Jon Karl makes things worse: He regrets “inaccurate” Benghazi email but says his story based on it “still entirely stands.” Really. ABC News?
57 points58 points | 14 comments
vote
FBI reportedly joins Bachmann campaign finance probe
60 points61 points | comment
vote
Doug Henwood: Capitalism Thrives on Class Exploitation
40 points41 points | 4 comments
vote
“Jodorowsky’s Dune”: The sci-fi classic that never was.
38 points39 points | 8 comments

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations