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Home  News Study: Many imported olive oils don’t meet label claims
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Study: Many imported olive oils don’t meet label claims |
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Friday, 23 July 2010 09:07 |
Study: Many imported olive oils don’t meet label claims
A new UC Davis study confirms what many consumers already suspect: "Extra virgin" olive oils are not always what they claim to be.
As the U.S. Department of Agriculture prepares new labeling standards for olive oils, the study could help guide regulators and consumers alike.
"Essentially, (the study) confirms that a lot of what's sold as extra virgin really isn't extra virgin," said Dan Flynn, executive director of UCD's Olive Center, part of the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science. "We want to provide consumers, retailers and regulators with the kind of information to lead them to ask questions about what's in that bottle."
In a first of its kind study by an American academic institution, the UCD research team found that 69 percent of the imported oils sampled failed to meet internationally accepted standards for extra virgin olive oil. By comparison, only 10 percent of the California-produced oils in the test failed to meet those standards.
"Before this study, we had anecdotal reports of poor quality olive oil being sold as extra virgin," Flynn said. "Now there is empirical proof. … The oils that failed in our tests had defects such as rancidity. Many of these oils just did not taste good."
With rising interest in healthy cooking, the United States now represents the world's third largest market for olive oil. Consumption has nearly doubled in the past decade. Last year, Americans consumed more than 75 million gallons.
"We have a whole section devoted to olive oil," said Bryan Castaneda, associate store team leader at Whole Foods on Arden Way. "We carry a lot of oils."
But unlike wine buyers, consumers rarely ask for oil recommendations, although the store has hosted olive oil tastings. "They've already made up their minds about what they're going to buy," he said.
More than 99 percent of the U.S. market belongs to imported oil. About half of retail olive oil is labeled "extra virgin," which can cost double the price for "virgin" oil of the same brand.
"It's incredibly important that people know what they're putting in their bodies," said Annette Schoonover, owner of Winterhill Farms, a Placerville olive oil maker whose brand was not included in the study. "People assume everything is fine, but you don't know which oils have been sitting on a shelf too long."
All 19 brands tested – 14 imported and five California made – were purchased in March at supermarkets or big box stores in Sacramento, San Francisco and Los Angeles counties. Three bottles of each brand from each location were tested. Released Thursday, the full findings and the names of all brands evaluated are available online.
Of the California-made brands tested, all bottles of Corto Olive, California Olive Ranch, McEvoy Ranch Organic and Lucero met the extra-virgin criteria.
Of the imports, only Kirkland Organic passed all the extra-virgin standards with samples from all three locations. Samples of Bertolli, Pompeian, Carapelli, Mezzetta and Mazola failed from all locations.
Working with Australian olive experts, the UCD scientists used international standards for evaluating extra virgin olive oil, considered the premium and most expensive on the market.
"It's the consumer's understanding that extra virgin is top grade," Flynn said. "They might not know what it means, but it's considered the best."
By definition, extra virgin oil must be extracted from the olive without heat or solvent and meet specific criteria for quality, low acidity, smell and taste. Virgin-grade oil allows more acidity, can be made with lower quality olives and may have taste defects.
Currently, there are no federal rules differentiating standards for extra virgin vs. virgin. New voluntary USDA guidelines will go into effect this fall.
In the UCD study, the oils were evaluated both by chemistry and a panel of trained tasters. But many did not meet extra-virgin standards due to oxidation, adulteration with cheaper refined olive oil or poor-quality oils made from damaged and overripe olives, processing flaws or improper oil storage.
UCD's study drew skepticism from the North American Olive Oil Association, which represents most oil importers in the U.S. That trade group noted that the UCD study, which used a relatively small sample, was funded by California olive oil producers and the California Olive Oil Council.
Bob Bauer, president of the association, said the UCD study "used different parameters than the usual international testing protocol."
He said, "We've been testing olive oils for 20 years and our results are nothing like those. Out of 200 olive oils we test each year, maybe 10 percent could have a problem." But even more interestingly, there is a class action lawsuit underway in the USA......
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