Fake olive oil??

[KONY]

Anyone have any actual science on this?

My gut instinct tells me most on US shelf is likely contaminated or diluted with other oils, as there is simply to much money to be made not to do that. Even if caught there is no real ramification.

However, that's not very scientific. Anyone got some real data?
Curious what actual italians think?


There have been websites setup like this to appear to be scientific, specifically by the companies selling the shit oil.... so cant really be trusted;
https://www.aboutoliveoil.org/the-facts-about-uc-davis-olive-centers-olive-oil-report
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/olive-foil/
https://vimeo.com/168257979

 

[CosmicGiggle]

I'm curious too, been wondering how to tell as mine tastes like olives but who knows.

 

[jhonnymastice]

sry for the bad english , i had see it on our labs in my university , and we found linoleic acid , in one or two companies ,ofc this is a fraud .it s not common , and we saw an higher rate in the oils with lower cost.

 

[CosmicGiggle]

... we saw an higher rate in the oils with lower cost.

thanks for the useful info jhonny!

 

[xavier7995]

Its pretty widespread from what i gather. I started getting mine from costco a few years back when whatever study this article is based on came out: https://livelovefruit.com/fake-olive-oil-is-everywhere-7-popular-brands-stop-buying-now/

Could be fear mongering, who knows, the costco olive oil is a good value and holds its own on the quality front so i stick with it.

 

[Switcher56]

... imagine that! A California article promoting Californian olive oil. Who would have thunk?

 

[shithawk420]

I thought this was common knowledge

 

[Rocky Mtn Squid]

Italian police break mafia ring exporting fake olive oil to U.S.

Italian police break mafia ring exporting fake olive oil to U.S.

Italian police said they have busted a crime ring exporting fake extra virgin olive oil to the United States, highlighting the mafia’s infiltration of Italy’s famed agriculture and food business.

Twelve people with links to the ‘Ndrangheta, the organized crime group based in the southern Calabria region, were arrested on Tuesday on a series of charges including mafia association and fraud, police said in a statement.

The gang shipped cheap olive pomace oil to the U.S. where it was re-labeled as the more expensive “extra virgin” variety, prized for its rich taste and health benefits, and distributed as such to retail stores in New Jersey, they said.

Italian crime syndicates earned an estimated 16 billion euros ($16.85 billion) in 2015 through illegal activities in the agriculture sector, up from 15 billions in 2014, according to Italy’s agricultural association, Coldiretti.

Besides counterfeiting products, gangs make money seizing control of farmland and firms, fixing prices, controlling distribution and through labor exploitation, studies say.

In 2015, crime groups forced more than 100,000 Italians and migrants to work long hours for little pay in fields across the country, according to a report by Italian General Confederation of Labor union (CGIL).

Police said they found no evidence of labor exploitation linked to the fake olive oil scheme, which saw at least ten tonnes of low quality oil, in some cases past sell-by date, sent to the United States.

Pomace oil is extracted from olive pulp left-over from the production of higher quality oils using chemical solvents.

It costs about a tenth of the Italian made extra virgin variety, which sells at about 10 euro a liter, according to David Granieri, the head of Italian olive growers’ association UNAPROL.

Granieri said counterfeit food products posed health risks, as they might contain allergens not indicated on the label, and damaged the reputation of Italian delicacies.

Honest producers, who rely on a perception of luxury to sell at higher prices aboard, also suffered from cheap fake products at a time of low oil production, he added.

“They (the crime groups) are drugging the system,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone.

Police said they had been in touch with U.S. authorities on the case.

Italy has long struggled against counterfeiting of its prized culinary goods, and police estimate the domestic market for fake foodstuffs is worth around 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) a year.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-italy-crime-food/italian-police-break-mafia-ring-exporting-fake-olive-oil-to-u-s-idUSKBN1602BD


This kind of scam has been occurring for decades. This article is just one example. You can most certainly taste the difference between fugazi oil and the real deal, ie., first press virgin olive oil.

You will also notice a big price differential as well, if your'e not being scammed and the labeling is truthful.

It's no different with weed. Spark up a joint of Mexican brick weed, and spark up a joint of real deal ECSD. No comparison between the two. Moreover, it`s the same as going to your local dispensary and buying an over priced shitty example of your favorite strain, taking it home, and being disgusted by it when you smoke it.

The same scam happens with wine, being secretly blended with other cheaper wines and watered down. Cheese that is sold as a name brand that actually is not. Parmigiano Reggiano is an example. Authentic Parm Reggy is only made outside of Florence, in the Reggiano region of Tuscany, using milk from specially bred red cows, and blending milk that is taken from morning and evening milkings.

All the olive groves along the Mediterranean Sea and nearby areas this year had some kind of disease on the olive trees, resulting in the trees not being able to bloom in the spring. If they don't bloom, the trees will not produce olives.

Olive oil prices are going to go way up as a result.

Caveat Emptor.

RMS

 

[starke]

Looks like Don Corleone has brought his olive oil export business into the modern era.

 

[Storm Shadow]

https://www.foxnews.com/world/turkey-accused-of-stealing-syrian-olives-passing-off-oil-as-their-own

Turkey accused of stealing Syrian olives, passing off oil as their own

The Turkish government is being accused of stealing olives from Syria, pressing them into oil and passing them off as their own to sellers in European Union countries for a hefty profit.

 

[Tudo]

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Fake+olive+oil


On the quality front, in my opinion California Olive Oil is a better quality then what gets shipped here from Italy........


And nobody can compete with California growers. Nobody.

 

[Big Nasty]

Real high EVO can't be sold in Italy for less than 8 euros a lt,under this mark you're loosing money and wasting time.
These Carapelli,Bertolli and so on are blended with low quality,probably not even from Italy but likely from North Africa,Spain and Middle East,nowhere near to what actual olive oil is,btw the best quality is the one coming from rocky soil.
Anyway sometimes i see on the news reportage of fake italian food from all over the world and i can't stop laughing

 

[Tudo]

McAvoy Farms in California.......Best in the west!

 

[watts]

I use California Olive Ranch brand. Good to me.

 

[Breadwizard]

Freshness is of utmost importance in good quality olive oil, so something that is made with care in our local Mediterranean climate is going to be in better condition than the same beginning quality that is shipped halfway across the world.

Buy local!

 

[Rocky Mtn Squid]

Good Point

Good Point

It`s also very important to cold press the olives ASAP after they are harvested.

The longer the delay, the less quality in the end product.

Old school machines are back in vogue, and are highly favored over new fangled expensive computerized press machines.


RMS

 

[aridbud]

My cousins in Ojai, CA got me addicted to brined or salt cured black olives from their trees. Not good for hypertension (BP), yet delicious and addictive!

Agree, regional vs. foreign olive oil is the "real deal".