The Olive Oil On Your Shelf Is Probably Lying

The olive oil in your kitchen is probably lying about what it is.

Not all of it. But enough.

Extra virgin is the highest grade of olive oil. To earn it, the oil has to be cold pressed from fresh olives with no heat, no chemicals, and no refining. It has to meet strict chemical standards and pass a sensory test. It has to smell and taste a specific way. It has to be fresh enough that the compounds responsible for its flavor haven’t degraded. That’s what the label says. That’s what you’re paying for.

In 2010, researchers at UC Davis bought 19 brands of imported extra virgin olive oil off supermarket shelves in California and sent them for testing. 69% of the imported brands failed to meet the international standards for extra virgin. Bertolli. Carapelli. Brands you’ve seen a thousand times. Sitting on the shelf labeled extra virgin. Not extra virgin.

The failures happened for three reasons. Some oils were old and had gone rancid. Some were lower quality oils from damaged or overripe olives that should have been labeled virgin, not extra virgin. And some had been cut with cheaper refined oils to stretch the supply.

That’s the polite version of the problem.

The impolite version… involves the Italian mafia.