The Revealed Truth About Olive Oil
Following are a few of the pitfalls you must be aware of when purchasing olive oil:
- A high percentage of olive oil is adulterated by blending with other vegetable oils.
- It is a common practice to use “Made in Italy” on labeling even though foreign oils have been blended in.
- Flavoring low-grade canola oil, or soy oil with beta-carotene and coloring it with industrial chlorophyll, or doctoring it with hazelnut oil and deodorized lampante olive oil.
- For the past ten years, Spain has produced more oil than Italy, but much of it is shipped to Italy for packaging and is sold, legally, as Italian oil.
- Recently there have been mass-market price wars and a flood of low quality olive oil — much of it falsely labelled extra virgin.
- Australian olive oil may be on average the highest quality on earth.
- Fraud is widespread throughout the industry.
Article: Slippery Business by Tom Mueller, New Yorker, August 13, 2007
Links to: Quality Olive Oil Producers:
List of Quality Olive Oil Producers
Extra Virgin Olive Oil Producers (Italian)
Other Interesting Stories:
