At least 70% of the available olive oil here in the United States is not actually olive oil. It has been cut with other oils, oils that are much cheaper than olive oil.
At least seven of the biggest olive oil manufacturers here in the United States have been cutting their products with inferior oils. Oils like sunflower oil or canola oil. They are doing this in order to cut back on the cost of production but for people who try to use olive oil as a healthy alternative to other oils, this is a huge slap in the face.
The oil is mixed, fragrance, and flavored before being shipped out to stores. It is marketed and sold as “extra virgin.” Testing done in Australia found that in 2012 none of their brands labeled “extra virgin” were pure olive oil. This finding led to a study carried out by the University of California.
In this study 124 imported brands of extra virgin olive oil were tested and over seventy percent of the samples were proved to be ‘fake’ olive oil. Just which brands were shown to be fake and which brands were real?
Fake Olive Oil Brands That Failed The Test
- Pompeian
- Colavita
- Bertolli
- Star
- Sasso
- Primadonna
- Antica Badia
- Carapelli
- Mazola
- Felippo Berio
- Whole Foods
- Safeway
- Coricelli
- Mezzetta
Real Olive Oil That Passes the Test:
- Kirkland Organic
- Corto Olive
- Ottavio
- Omaggio
- Lucini
- Bariani Olive Oil
- Lucero
- Olea Estates
- McEvoy Ranch Organic
- California Olive Ranch
- Combram Estate
Now if you using a brand not listed above there is an easy way you can check at home to see if your olive oil is real or not as well. Here’s how:
How To Check Your Olive Oil
- Take your bottle of olive oil and place it in the fridge
- Wait for thirty minutes or up to an hour
- Take the olive oil out of the fridge to examine
- If the oil has solidified then it contains a large amount of monosaturated fats
- This is what you can find in real extra virgin olive oil
- If your oil doesn’t show any sign or solidification then it is likely fake oil
It is that simple. While this test won’t give you exact answers it is good to go by when you have nothing else to go on. If you want to be sure without a doubt that your oil is olive oil look for the official seals of approval. Which are pictured below:
We need to do our best to not support the corruption going on in the world. By not buying the ‘fake’ brands listed above you are helping yourself in more ways than you could imagine. Why pay more for olive oil when you’re not getting olive oil? For a little more information on fake olive oil please take the time to watch the video below.