The olive oil conspiracy (dyed canola being sold as olive)

[moss]

Sooo....

apparently, more olive oil is exported from italy than they actually produce. A magazine article that i just read in fitnessRx stated that out of 750 olive oil companies tested, around 200 of them were selling green dyed canola and passing it off as olive oil!!! Anyone know if there's a list somewhere online of the reputable companies that are actually selling olive oil?

As a parent of a child who cant tolerate food dyes, i'm pretty concerned about this......

[Jojo F.]

Wow! Thanks for letting us know, I had no idea. I am interested too now to know which ones are actual olive oil.

[kittyhead]

:but olive oil has such a distinctive, strong flavor... how could you not know that it was canola oil? canola oil doesn't have much of a flavor at all...

[Wolfmeis]

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/AmericanFa...tory?id=988980

[ktbug]

Originally Posted by kittyhead

:but olive oil has such a distinctive, strong flavor... how could you not know that it was canola oil? canola oil doesn't have much of a flavor at all...

Most people don't know that and couldn't taste it even if they did.
You'd be surprised.

[moss]

Originally Posted by Wolfmeis

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/AmericanFa...tory?id=988980

To see if the olive oil you purchased is the real deal, just pop the bottle in the fridge until it's chilled. If it get cloudy and coagulates, you got what you paid for. If it remains clear, it's not genuine extra-virgin olive oil.

hm...

my concern is that it could be an olive oil/canola-dyed mix. how could you detect that?

maybe ewg or the green guide will do a story on this...

[onelilguysmommy]

well it smells very different...but then you have to buy and open it... hmmmm.

ive never heard this!

[avendesora]

I've actually been suspicious of Trader Joe's olive oil for a while. I was using it to make croûtons, and the croûtons maintained this funny green color, in a way that I found disconcerting. I didn't guess that they were dyeing canola oil, but rather, that it was cheap olive oil (not extra virgin) being sold as first-pressed olive oil.

To see if the olive oil you purchased is the real deal, just pop the bottle in the fridge until it's chilled. If it get cloudy and coagulates, you got what you paid for. If it remains clear, it's not genuine extra-virgin olive oil.

That's from the article listed above. Useful info.

Aven

[beka1977]

Did you read the part of that article where they talk about selling the contaminated cheese? I swear - pretty soon I am only going to put things in my body that I have actually made myself. I find this all so ridiculous!

Let's see, I'm going to need some cows, a couple of goats....:

[beka1977]

This was from NPR:

Italian extra-virgin olive oil has become so lucrative that adulterated olive oil has become the biggest source of agricultural fraud problems in the European Union.

Some oil labeled "extra-virgin" is diluted with cheaper olive oils or other vegetable oils. In some cases, lampante, or "lamp oil," which is made from spoiled olives fallen from trees, is used, even though it can't legally be sold as food. One fraud ring is accused of coloring low-grade soy oil and canola oil with industrial chlorophyll, and flavoring it with beta-carotene.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...oryId=12571726

[*Robin*]

Originally Posted by avendesora

I've actually been suspicious of Trader Joe's olive oil for a while. I was using it to make croûtons, and the croûtons maintained this funny green color, in a way that I found disconcerting. I didn't guess that they were dyeing canola oil, but rather, that it was cheap olive oil (not extra virgin) being sold as first-pressed olive oil.

I just put my unopened bottle of TJ's olive oil in the fridge. I'll let you know if this one it fake.

Originally Posted by beka1977

This was from NPR:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...oryId=12571726

Thanks for this link. It's very informative!

[Pam_and_Abigail]

Wow that's scary. See it's not just China selling us crap! (Okay, maybe it's not as bad, but it's still dishonest)

[Jeanne D'Arc]

Originally Posted by moss

Sooo....

apparently, more olive oil is exported from italy than they actually produce. A magazine article that i just read in fitnessRx stated that out of 750 olive oil companies tested, around 200 of them were selling green dyed canola and passing it off as olive oil!!! Anyone know if there's a list somewhere online of the reputable companies that are actually selling olive oil?

As a parent of a child who cant tolerate food dyes, i'm pretty concerned about this......

OMG! I didn't know they were still doing this! Yuck...Canola??:

This has been going on since the Great Depression, except I think
they used Cottonsseed oil back then.

[Jeanne D'Arc]

All the olive oil I ever get it from Whole Foods Market...usually.

I know for a fact that Lucini is true Olive oil, very high quality stuff! You can TASTE the olives.

Gosh that makes me mad, esp since i avoid Canola.

[BookGoddess]

Thanks for the heads up! Our olive oil just ran out. I'll be putting the new bottle in the fridge to see if it coagulates like it should.

I wish the people who did this undercover investigation went one step further and provided us with a list of makers who can be trusted.

[*Robin*]

I have FAKE EVOO!!

Okay, yesterday as I posted, I put my unopened bottle of Trade Joe's "100% Italian, President's Reserve, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Cold Pressed, Product of Italy" in the fridge and just now, this morning, it is NOT solidified.

I have to say, usually I get my olive oil at a little Arabic market, but my husband convinced me to get this bottle at Trader Joe's because it's just as good and cheaper. Ha!

So I have a whole bottle of fake olive oil. What do I do now??

[meowee]

Don't put the whole bottle in, it will affect the taste. Just use a sample.

[*Robin*]

Originally Posted by meowee

Don't put the whole bottle in, it will affect the taste. Just use a sample.

I already did, and it doesn't matter cause it's FAKE!
: now what??

I think I'll email NPR first.

[CathMac]

Originally Posted by robinlaroy

... So I have a whole bottle of fake olive oil. What do I do now??

robinlaroy,
It's a good thing you didn't open the bottle, so there is no question as to whether it was tampered with post production.

I wouldn't merely return it to Trader Joe's, my guess is they've got a pretty good return policy (especially where it's unopened) and they may simply take it back without doing anything about it unless you make sure management gets involved. I would call the store, ask for the name of the manager and possibly even the district manager and so on up the line. Then I would write to the manager but cc everybody else to make sure they are informed, that way you aren't relying on the manager to do it.

I would also be careful about how you word it so as not to unnecessarily offend anyone. I would approach it from a quality control perspective, and perhaps mention the article but I would be careful about jumping in and calling the olive oil in question "counterfeit". You wouldn't want to be accused of libel or slander.

You need to be especially careful when you put anything in writing.
~Cath

[CathMac]

Originally Posted by moss

hm...

my concern is that it could be an olive oil/canola-dyed mix. how could you detect that?

maybe ewg or the green guide will do a story on this...

moss,
If it's not completely counterfeit but rather diluted with counterfeit oil I think you might see some "coagulation" but not as much as you would expect.

Fortunately I've put Olive Oil in the fridge before (I didn't know I wasn't supposed to) so I think I have some idea of what it should look like.

Does anyone know how long you need to refrigerate it to give it a chance to coagulate and whether if you take it out right away the taste would be ruined?
~Cath