Slippery Business.... fake olive oil as profitable as cocaine with no risk.

**Little Wing** · 01-08-2013, 02:02 PM

The extra-virgin olive oil you find at your local supermarket very likely is not extra-virgin at all. It turns out that the USDA doesn't even recognize classifications such as "extra-virgin." As a result, bottlers all over the world can blend olive oil with cheaper vegetable oils and sell it for a premium price as "extra-virgin." If you care to learn more about the widespread fraud in the olive oil industry read this: Slippery Business, The New Yorker, August 13, 2007.

On August 10, 1991, a rusty tanker called the Mazal II docked at the industrial port of Ordu, in Turkey, and pumped twenty-two hundred tons of hazelnut oil into its hold. The ship then embarked on a meandering voyage through the Mediterranean and the North Sea. By September 21st, when the Mazal II reached Barletta, a port in Puglia, in southern Italy, its cargo had become, on the ship's official documents, Greek olive oil.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Paolo De Castro, who was appointed Italy's agriculture minister in 2006, told me that olive-oil fraud has been a problem in the past but that he was taking action to curb it. ''In the past few years, we have tightened things up a lot, through our Inspectorate for Quality Control, and through our carabinieri corps,? he said. One problem is that Italian officials charged with detecting adulterated oil can, in theory, be held liable for their actions. ''Who's going to take this responsibility?'' asked Lanfranco Conte, a professor of food chemistry at the University of Udine, who in the early nineties was the head of a laboratory belonging to the Agriculture Ministry's anti-fraud unit. ''If you decide to block three thousand tons of oil and it turns out you were wrong, you pay out of your own pocket.'' Colonel De Filippi acknowledged that some companies are essentially immune to investigation. "Unfortunately, there are big producers who have strong political ties," he said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In February, 2006, federal marshals seized about sixty-one thousand litres of what was supposedly extra-virgin olive oil and twenty-six thousand litres of a lower-grade olive oil from a New Jersey warehouse. Some of the oil, which consisted almost entirely of soybean oil, was destined for a company called Krinos Foods, a member of the North American Olive Oil Association.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

bastids

**jagbender** · 01-08-2013, 02:08 PM

Bunk gear, now this! WTF?

**Little Wing** · 01-08-2013, 02:09 PM

wtf indeed.

**Little Wing** · 01-08-2013, 02:11 PM

Extra-Virgin Olive Oil Fraud: Whole Foods, Rachel Ray, Safeway, Newman's Own, Colavita, Bertolli - Food Media & News - Chowhound

"Lab tests cast doubt on olive oil's virginity"
Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi...
Found to have be fraudulently labeled as Extra-Virgin:
Whole Foods
Rachel Ray
Safeway
Newman's Own
Colavita
Bertolli
Filippo Berio
Pompeian
Star
Carapelli
Mezzetta
Mazzola
Found to be accurately labeled as Extra-Virgin:
Kirkland Organic
Corto Olive
California Olive Ranch
McEvoy Ranch Organic

**dave 236** · 01-08-2013, 02:16 PM

Originally Posted by jagbender

Bunk gear, now this! WTF?

And a Roland Kickinger impostor.

Sent from my DROID4 using Tapatalk 2

**Little Wing** · 01-08-2013, 02:18 PM

Your Extra-Virgin Olive Oil Is Fake | Food Renegade

Did you know that the Mob makes money hand over fist by selling you fake olive oil?

The most common form of adulteration comes from mixing extra virgin olive oil with cheaper, lower-grade oils. Sometimes, it?s an oil from an altogether different source ? like canola oil or colza oil. Other times, they blend extra virgin olive oil with a poorer quality olive oil. The blended oil is then chemically deodorized, colored, and possibly even flavored and sold as ?extra-virgin? oil to a producer. In other words, if you find a major brand name olive oil is fake, it probably isn?t the brand?s fault. Rather, it?s their supplier?s.
Mueller?s book is deeply engaging, reading like a typical suspense novel or crime drama rather than a news story. His engrossing way with words sucks you in from page one and doesn?t let you go until you reach the back cover.
If you want the full, gripping, true story behind the olive oil racketeering, I highly recommend you buy and read Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil.

**Little Wing** · 01-08-2013, 02:19 PM

Originally Posted by dave 236

And a Roland Kickinger impostor.

Sent from my DROID4 using Tapatalk 2

bastids and son of a beaches

**maniclion** · 01-08-2013, 02:20 PM

Here I have been getting Kirkland organic thinking it was probably one of the top labels like Bertolli just re-branded and turns out its better! Glad I made that assumption!!!

**Little Wing** · 01-08-2013, 02:21 PM

so the green thing is an olive

**Little Wing** · 01-08-2013, 02:23 PM

i used Filippo Berio. not impressed.

**dieseljimmy** · 01-08-2013, 02:33 PM

Most widely known name brands are not real. Real olive oil degrades with light exposure. Look for dark tinted glass. It has a low burning temp it should start smoking at medium stove top temp.
Bariani is the only brand I buy. I did real an article where the Kirkland brand tested legit

**dogsoldier** · 01-08-2013, 02:35 PM

When I was a kid, my father and grandfather made olive oil. The stuff that we buy now tastes noting like what I grew up with.

**Little Wing** · 01-08-2013, 02:38 PM

Originally Posted by dieseljimmy

Most widely known name brands are not real. Real olive oil degrades with light exposure. Look for dark tinted glass. It has a low burning temp it should start smoking at medium stove top temp.
Bariani is the only brand I buy. I did real an article where the Kirkland brand tested legit

real evoo will keep a lamp wick burning, solidifies in the fridge, and melts again when room temp. not foolproof but a quick test that will uncover most fakes.

**dave 236** · 01-08-2013, 02:52 PM

Originally Posted by Little Wing

real evoo will keep a lamp wick burning, solidifies in the fridge, and melts again when room temp. not foolproof but a quick test that will uncover most fakes.

Nice to know.

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**Supreme Allah** · 01-08-2013, 04:12 PM

Originally Posted by jagbender

Bunk gear, now this! WTF?

your bunk gear is this oil its FDA approved..god see all

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