Olive Oil Fraud?
It came to my attention not long ago that the olive oil we are buying might not be extra virgin at all. In fact it might not even be olive oil!
I was shocked, thinking I was buying the 'good brands' and so buying the healthy best for my family and myself.
A search on the internet proved that I had been duped! Type 'olive oil ripoff (or fraud)' in your search engine. A multitude of sites will be displayed. Can you believe that more than two-thirds of the extra-virgin olive oils in your local grocery are not what they seem?
Extra virgin olive oil is supposed to be from the freshest olives milled within 24 hours of harvesting, the first press only and no chemicals or additives allowed. Some of the virgin olive oils they analyzed had oils 'not fit for human consumption' in them.
Forbes was one of many reporting on this scam. For the article click here ►http://www.forbes.com/sites/cathyhuyghe/2014/03/05/the-scam-of-olive-oil-and-its-antidote/
I discovered that, even if an olive oil was extra virgin, people differed in their opinions of taste. Some said one oil was too light, another too heavy, too peppery, etc. It seems to be a matter of taste, but I still want 100% extra virgin olive oil, not an imposter!
After reading a few reviews on different sites, I ordered three bottles of the brands, which past the test as 100% extra virgin olive oil, from World Market. I asked my family to blind taste test the oils with some French bread. We tried the three that I had received and the brand, which I had been buying for some time.
What I had been buying was not 100% extra virgin olive oil.! From what the article had said, my brand had some olive oil in it. However, it had been combined with some other kind of cheaper oil and sold as extra virgin olive oil. It left a coating of oil in our mouths. The family agreed, it was their least favorite.
Our favorites were Cobram Estates and Daily Chef Extra Virgin Olive Oil from Italy. These are the two that we have decided to use. I haven't found the Cobram Estates locally yet, but I know I can order it online. The Daily Chef brand is at Sam's Club. We use a lot of olive oil! We had no idea there was so much olive oil fraud out there.
