Your store-bought extra virgin olive oil is likely a fraud
There’s a good chance the extra virgin olive oil you splurged on at the grocery story isn’t the real deal.
It’s touted as a golden elixir simultaneously capable of dressing up your fettuccine and lowering your cancer risk, but the olive oil industry is fraught with incredible corruption – like, mafia-level corruption – because imports are unregulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
One widely cited 2010 report from the University of California, Davis' world-renowned Olive Center found more than two-thirds of imported “extra virgin” olive oil didn’t meet the standards for the label. That’s a big problem for a country on track to set a record with more than 300,000 tons of olive oil imported this year, and an even bigger one for Fort Collins foodies and health nuts forking over extra cash for a fraudulent product.
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The FDA is developing its first testing and sampling system for olive oil imports, and the agency must present a plan to ensure consumer safety and proper labeling of imported olive oil by Jan. 18.
In the meantime, most American shoppers could use a little extra virgin olive oil education.
First, leave your olive oil assumptions at the door.
“Just because you’re getting it from Whole Foods or Sprouts – or going to a farmers market or boutique store – doesn’t necessarily mean it’s real,” said Nichole Crisanti, co-owner of Old Town’s Rocky Mountain Olive Oil Company, which sells genuine extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar. “Just because you paid a lot for it doesn’t mean it’s real.”
There are a few common ways of “faking” extra virgin olive oil to make profit margins soar:
- Mixing common, lower quality olive oil with the higher-quality stuff.
- Cutting extra virgin or regular olive oil with cheap oils like canola or sunflower.
- Altering cheap oils with coloring and chlorophyll to make them look and smell like olive oil.
Altered or adulterated oils don't have the health benefits of the real thing, don't taste the same and sometimes aren't even fit for human consumption.
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Olive oil fraud is so lucrative that the Italian Mafia has entered the mix, 60 Minutes reported this year. Italy’s “Agromafia” makes an estimated $16 billion each year hawking tampered olive oils, according to the report.
"Olive oil fraud has gone on for the better part of four millennia," Guy Campanile, the producer of the report, told CBS. "The difference now is that the food supply chain is so vast, so global and so lucrative that it's easy for the bad guys to either introduce adulterated olive oils or mix in lower quality olive oils with extra-virgin olive oil."
Genuine extra virgin olive oil is the best olive oil money can buy. It’s essentially a luminous, golden-green fruit juice, packed with antioxidants, totally unrefined and additive-free. Ancient Greeks used to slather themselves with the stuff before working out in the nude, all the better to frolic like bronzed gods under the Mediterranean sun.
Nowadays, olive oil has to meet precise parameters for chemistry and taste to actually warrant the prized label. Regulatory agencies don’t test imported olive oils to make sure they fit the bill, so even the fanciest-looking $35 bottle of “Italy’s finest” could be nothing more than plain old canola oil.
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You can test an oil’s chemical properties to find out if it’s a ripoff – or you could just drink some.
“I always tell people the proof is in the pudding,” Crisanti said. “You can put them side by side and taste it and you’ll know the difference. There’s absolutely no question.”
Real extra virgin olive oil should have fruity notes – grass, apple, artichoke and bananas are common descriptors, according to the Olive Center at the University of California-Davis – as well as a hint of bitterness. More robust oils often give you a peppery tickle on the back of your tongue.
Like a different kind of grape can change the profile of a wine, each of the 700-plus olive varieties gives off a unique oil when crushed.
Crisanti and her husband and co-owner, Lindsey, get their oils from a highly rated distributor, Veronica Foods, which imports from small-batch producers across the globe. All their oils are tested at a third-party lab and undergo smell and taste tests to ensure they’re genuine extra virgin olive oil. The store also displays information about each oil's chemical components.
Sellers of quality extra virgin olive oil should be able to answer questions about its chemistry, Crisanti said. It’s also a good idea to ask for an oil’s crush date and how long after picking the olives were crushed.
If you’d rather hit the grocery store for olive oil, check out olive oil expert Tom Mueller’s list of supermarket picks. There are some at Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods and Costco, among other chains.
A general red flag is anything with an expiration date, Crisanti said, because true extra virgin olive oil becomes rancid and metallic-tasting after two years, tops.
Or maybe you just don’t care if the label is a lie.
“If it’s not broke, don’t fix it,” Crisanti said. “Just know what you’re buying is not real olive oil and you’re not getting the health benefits. Think like you’re using canola oil.”