Olive oil is arguably the most popular vegetable oil in the world. Everyone uses it, whether it's for cooking, cosmetics or soap making.
But what if I told you your ‘olive oil’ probably isn’t olive oil at all? I know you may not believe it, but wait until you finish this blog!
The olive oil industry is shocking and we’re here to expose it.
Contents
- What Are You Really Buying?
- What is Extra Virgin Olive Oil?
- What Are The Different Types of Olive Oil?
- The Truth About The Olive Oil Industry
- How is Olive Oil Adulterated?
- How Olive Oil Purity Is Tested
- How to Prevent Buying Adulterated Olive Oil
- Conclusion
What Are You Really Buying?
We tested the purity of 4 samples of extra virgin olive oil from a range of online retailers. The results showed that 3 out of 4 were not extra virgin olive oil.
So if it says ‘extra virgin olive oil’ on the labels, but they failed the tests, then what is in the bottles?
Our tests found the oils were oxidised or lower quality virgin olive oil.
So you’re paying a higher price for extra virgin olive oil, and you’re actually getting a cheap, low quality oil.
What is Extra Virgin Olive Oil?
Extra virgin olive oil is the highest quality olive oil on the market. To obtain the oil, the olive fruit is picked from the olive trees and cold pressed at low temperatures, without the use of solvents. Our pure olive oil is unrefined and is yellow to green in colour with a natural characteristic olive aroma.
In cosmetics, extra virgin olive oil is used in skincare and haircare for its natural moisturising properties. It is also very popular in cold process soap making as it makes a very conditioning soap bar.
What Are The Different Types of Olive Oil?
There are a few types of olive oil that you may have heard of:
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Extra virgin olive oil is an unrefined, cold pressed oil and it is the first pressed oil. It has no sensory defects and a very low acidity level because only the freshest, highest quality olives are used to make this oil.
Extra virgin olive oil must have a free fatty acid content of 0.8% or less to be classed as extra virgin oil.
Virgin Olive Oil
Virgin olive oil is not as popular as extra virgin olive oil as it is not as high quality. To make virgin olive oil, they use lower quality olives which means it has a higher acidity level compared to extra virgin oil.
Olive Pomace Oil
Olive pomace oil is extracted using solvent extraction from olive pulp after the first press. It is often refined, as unrefined olive pomace oil is not suitable for human consumption.
Refined Olive Oil
Refined olive oil is made from virgin olive oil that has been through a refining process to remove the scent, colour and flavour.
The Truth About The Olive Oil Industry
The olive oil industry is no stranger to scandals and it is one of the top food fraud products!
If you buy a bottle of olive oil labelled as “Italian olive oil,” there’s a good chance it isn’t even from Italy. A lot of olive oil is actually produced in Spain, then shipped to Italy to be bottled and labelled as ‘Italian olive oil’.
Producers will even put Italian regions on the bottles to make them look more authentic. When in reality, the oil was just bottled in that region.
The olive oil industry has had serious problems for decades. In 1981, adulterated olive oil made its way through Spain causing toxic oil syndrome. The oil was adulterated with rapeseed oil that was unfit for consumption. Thousands of people were hospitalised after consuming this olive oil, over 300 people died and half of the survivors are still living with disability and illness.
The olive oil adulteration industry is not small. It’s not just producers that are misleading us, there are also organised crime groups that are adulterating olive oil and selling it as extra virgin oil.
It is so sophisticated that it is difficult to find the real olive oil amongst the fake.
How is Olive Oil Adulterated?
Producers adulterate extra virgin olive oil by diluting it with cheaper oils. The most common oils they use are olive pomace, sunflower, grapeseed, or soybean oil as they can make it look very similar to the real thing.
So how can we tell if it is pure? Sometimes, you can find anomalies in the Certificate of Analysis (COA) that don’t align with the composition of pure olive oil.
Let’s break this down…
Natural oils are composed of fatty acids. Their fatty acid profile tells you what percentage of which fatty acid is in the oil.
There are many types of fatty acids, with names like Oleic Acid, Linoleic Acid etc.
The percentage for each type of fatty acid, for pure extra virgin olive oil, should fall within these ranges:
The percentages on the COA for your extra virgin olive oil must fit within these ranges. The main fatty acid you want to look at is linolenic acid, as this is what can change when olive is adulterated with sunflower or grapeseed. If the percentage of linolenic acid is more than 1%, it is likely the olive oil has been diluted with 5% sunflower oil or 5% grapeseed oil.
However, this is not the only indicator of adulteration. In many cases, the COA can appear completely normal, even when the oil has been adulterated. This means identifying adulterated olive oil is more complex than simply checking the COA.
So how do we identify adulterated olive oil? First, let’s look at the different ways it can be adulterated…
How Olive Oil Purity Is Tested
This is where it gets technical, but stick with it.
The only way to truly know if your olive oil is pure, is by sending it to a third party lab for testing. But this can be expensive and you have to know what you’re testing for.
The lab will test the oil a few different ways, so let’s go through each process…
High Palmitic Oils
To detect subtle forms of adulteration, labs need to measure Trans isomers, Erythrodiol+Uvaol, delta-ECN42, wax content and 2-Glyceryl monopalmitate. These tests help identify if chemically altered oils have been added or if there are any oils with high palmitic acid.
High palmitic oils are used to adulterate olive oil as its palmitic acid range is very wide (7% - 20%), so the high palmitic oils can be “hidden” in the extra virgin olive oil and it won’t be detected on the COA!
Low Quality Olive Oils
To detect the presence of olive pomace oil, the olive oil is tested for solvents. Solvents should never be used in pure extra virgin olive oil, so if they are present, the oil has been adulterated with olive pomace oil.
To identify if lower quality olive oils have been mixed in with the extra virgin olive oil, they will check the acidity and peroxide values.
UV spectrophotometry is used to assess olive oil quality by detecting oxidation. The test works by shining a UV light through the oil and measuring how much is absorbed. This test indicates the condition of the oil as fresh, high-quality olive oil absorbs light in a specific way. Whereas damaged or lower-quality oil shows different absorption patterns.
Seed Oils
To detect low erucic rapeseed oil, labs will look for delta-ECN42. For sunflower oil, they will look for Delta-7 sterols. Raised levels of stigmasterol and campesterol in the olive oil shows contamination with oils like peanut, soya, sunflower, grapeseed or sesame.
How to Prevent Buying Adulterated Olive Oil
There is no simple way to test the purity of extra virgin olive oil and we know that not everyone can send their olive oil off for testing. So what can you do to ensure you are using pure olive oil?
Here’s a checklist:
- Has your supplier tested the purity of their olive oil? If they are relying on supplier documentation it means they have no idea what is in the oil.
- Is their olive oil fully traceable? Does the supplier even know where the olive oil comes from?
- Can they answer these questions? What are their sourcing practices, extraction methods and quality control measures? If they can’t be honest, then how can you be sure they are a trustworthy supplier?
- Does the COA for their extra virgin olive oil look suspicious? If the percentage of linolenic acid is more than 1%, it is likely to have been adulterated. But remember, don’t be fooled by perfect looking COAs, there may be more to the oil than it shows.
What is The Fridge Test?
If you have looked into how to find pure olive oil, you may have come across people recommending to check the purity of olive oil with the fridge test.
This test involves putting some extra virgin olive oil into a fridge to see if it solidifies. It is said that if it solidifies, the oil is pure olive oil.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t work.
Extra virgin olive oil isn’t the only oil that solidifies in cold temperatures. In fact, most other oils will solidify over time. So it is not an accurate way to test the purity of your extra virgin olive oil.
Conclusion
It’s a lot to take in, we know. But now you know what’s happening behind the scenes and you can make more informed choices.
That’s why we’re exposing fraudulent producers and we’re committed to bringing more transparency to the industry.
The only thing you can be sure about, is that The Soapery will always provide you with high quality, 100% pure extra virgin olive oil. Not only do we purchase our pure olive oil from reputable producers, we also get our olive oil tested at a third-party lab to ensure its purity!
Continue Reading
Now you know the truth about the olive oil industry, why not read about other oils?
- Learn about the purity of argan oil in this blog!
- Interested in grapeseed oil? Read about the purity of this oil here!
- Read about how the almond oil industry sell adulterated oils in this in-depth blog!
Let us know your thoughts on the purity of olive oil in the comments!
