Avoid These 14 Fake Olive Oil Companies
About 70% of olive oil in the USA markets is fake, cut with cheap bad oils like sunflower, soybean, and canola. Olive oil is supposed to be healthy, but now this item can potentially cause health problems.
In 2008, more than 400 Italian police officers were involved in the breakdown of a black market of olive oils, an operation known as Golden Oil. This meant seizure for 85 oil farms that mixed some percentage chlorophyll with sunflower and canola to the olive oil. The oil was mixed, colored, perfumed and flavored too. Authentic, pure olive oil is pricey to produce. Thus, those people will dilute it with cheaper ingredients in order to increase their profit margin.
This scam made the California University study 124 imported oils and found that over 70% of samples failed the tests.
These failed:
- Mezzetta
- Carapelli
- Pompeian
- Primadonna
- Mazola
- Sasso
- Colavita
- Star
- Antica Badia
- Whole Foods
- Safeway
- Felippo Berio
- Coricelli
- Bertolli
These brands passed:
- Corto olive.
- Lucero
- McEvoy Ranch Organic
- Omaggio
- California Olive Branch
- Bariani Olive oil
- Lucini
- Ottavio
- Olea Estates
- Cobram Estate
- Kirkland Organic
Like The Health Ranger Mike said: “The truth in all this is that olive oil is supposed to BITE your tongue with a strong, pungent, rich flavor that wakes up your senses and makes you go, “WOW!” If it doesn’t do that, it’s not “intact” olive oil.”
Also, test the olive oil yourself at home. Put the bottle out when cold, or in the fridge for 30 min. if it gets solid, it is pure and has monounsaturated fats. But if it stays liquid is fake and just in case, see the label approvals like Australian Extra Virgin Certified or the other one, California Olive Oil Council Certified Extra Virgin.
In other words, the olive oil you’re buying at the store probably started out as legitimate olive oil, but due to high heat processing, oxidation, exposure to light and cutting with inferior oils, what you end up getting is nothing like the original oil that was squeezed out of the olives.