The world of extra-virgin olive oil was thrown into turmoil recently by a report from the Olive Center at the University of California, Davis. A Davis research team tested 14 imported extra-virgin olive oils and five California-made oils and reached the conclusion that most of the imported oils were defective, too much so to qualify as extra-virgin. By contrast, one of the California samples missed out.

No surprises there, perhaps, since the Olive Center is in the forefront of energetic attempts to grow the California oil industry, which is currently responsible for just 1.5 percent of the $700 million U.S. market in extra-virgin olive oil. But eyebrows were raised when it was revealed the research was funded by the companies behind two of the California oils that were tested (Corto-Olive and California Olive Ranch) and by the California Olive Oil Council, an industry group. The oils were tasted, and tested, blind so there probably was no messing with samples; still, even the appearance of conflict of interest can color the public’s perception of results, especially when they so favor the home team over the visitors. Trade groups, including the North American Olive Oil Assn. and the Madrid-based International Olive Council, have lambasted the study's methodolgy.

Here’s how it worked: The 14 imported oils were each represented by three samples, purchased from retail shops in Sacramento, the Bay Area and Los Angeles, making 42 samples to be tested. The research team also bought two samples each of five California oils (only two because the California oils, for some reason, were not available in Los Angeles). All the oils, imported and domestic, were labeled extra-virgin. Researchers then subjected each sample to a battery of tests, starting with an organoleptic, or sensory test developed by the International Olive Council (IOC) and adopted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to determine the quality of an oil from its aroma and taste. (According to the IOC, extra-virgin oils must have "perfect" organoleptic characteristics, even though those characteristics can vary widely from one region to another and from one variety to another.)

Lab analysis of olive oil defects

The Davis team also sent its samples to Australia to be analyzed by the Australian Olive Assn.’s Oils Research Laboratory in New South Wales.

The conclusion in a blind sampling? More than two-thirds of the imported oils and a mere 10% of the Californians -- one sample of one oil -- failed the test.

The same samples were then put through a series of chemical tests, including analysis for free oleic acid and other indicators used by the IOC and USDA to determine the authenticity of extra-virgin olive oil. Finally, the researchers analyzed the oils according to more rigorous standards recently adopted by the German government and the Australian Olive Assn. Of the samples that had already failed the organoleptic assessment, 31% went on to fail the IOC/USDA chemical analyses. A full 83% also failed the more rigorous tests.

There are any number of reasons suggested for the defects:

1. The oils were made from defective, old or damaged olives, or had been improperly stored.
2. The oils were oxidized, meaning they had been kept too long or been exposed to elevated temperatures and/or light.
3. The oils had been adulterated with cheaper refined olive oil, or other vegetable or nut oils.
4. All or any of the above.

So does this mean that all these imported olive oils are made by irresponsible producers, if not downright frauds and cheats? Paul Newman? Rachel Ray? Whole Foods? If you read the headlines, you'd have to conclude that such eminent names are indeed guilty of fraudulent behavior. "Study Confirms: Most Imported Extra-Virgin Olive Oil Sold in California Is the Pits," said the L.A. Times. "Have you heard the bad news about imported extra-virgin olive oils?" asked an online vendor of Italian products. "Most Imported Olive Oils Don't Match 'Extra Virgin' Claims, Study Finds," warned YubaNet.com.

But take a closer look at the study. First of all, this is a small sampling: 14 out of several hundred different oils that are imported annually from all over the world. And it is a sampling only of what we might call industrially made oils (Carapelli, Colavita, Filippo Berio, Pompeian, and the like), that is, oils made in very large quantities, possibly coming from a number of different sources. These are not estate oils, as the producers would be the first to admit. The California oils, on the other hand, come from estates like McEvoy Ranch and Corto-Olive which have established reputations for careful production from their own olives It’s a little like comparing a Wisconsin factory cheddar with a well-aged raw-milk Montgomery cheddar from Somerset in England.

Results varied by location

Still, if an oil is labeled extra-virgin, whether industrially produced or estate-grown and bottled, it should be extra-virgin, shouldn’t it? What the Davis study does show is that of the 14 imported oils, only a few uniformly failed the tests, no matter where they were purchased. Those were Bertolli, Pompeian, Carapelli and Mezzetta (a Pugliese brand unfamiliar to me). For the others, the results are mixed: Whole Foods’ own store brand, for instance, "365 100% Italian," failed in samples from Sacramento and San Francisco, but the Los Angeles sample passed easily. Similarly, Colavita’s samples from San Francisco and Los Angeles failed to meet the mark but the Sacramento sample sailed through. A similar story could be told about all of the imported oils, all of which passed some tests, but not others.

What does this mean? Presumably Colavita sent the same oil out from its producer to the three retailers in the study, but somewhere during shipment it ran into a bottleneck or, more likely, a handler who was indifferent to the delicate nature of olive oil. Everyone who writes about olive oil for consumers stresses the need to keep it in a relatively cool (65ºF.) dark place. Never, we say, purchase olive oil in a clear glass bottle; and never purchase olive oil from a shop where it is exposed to light -- not just sunlight but even shop lights can do a terrific amount of harm. The Davis test confirms that we are all too often preaching to deaf ears. What is not always clear to the oil-buying public is that even the finest extra-virgin oils can and do deteriorate with poor handling or just with the passage of time, losing intensity of color and flavor, even turning rancid, so that they no longer qualify as extra-virgin.

Did poor handling ruin extra-virgin olive oil?

Because Colavita's Sacramento sample passed the test, an inescapable conclusion is that the company's oil was poorly handled in the other two places from which samples failed, most likely because bottles were stored too long and perhaps in a place where the contents were exposed to too much light and heat. Fault Colavita for not keeping closer control over distribution, but it’s not an easy task from half a world away. I wish the Davis report had revealed the names of the shops where the faulty samples were purchased since in many cases, it’s clearly the fault of the shopkeeper if an oil is improperly handled.

Smart consumers will always look for a harvest date or at least a use-by date on the bottle (not all bottles will carry that, and especially not the more industrial oils). It is not  clear from the Davis study whether all the samples purchased were from the same harvest year, which would be a critical determinant of quality. If for instance the two Colavita oils that failed were already three years old, then it is understandable that they would fail to meet the extra-virgin standards since, according to IOC requirements, the shelf life for extra-virgin is just two years.

The valid conclusion to draw from the Davis report is not that all imported olive oils are fraudulent, but rather that most of the imported oils tested were deficient. What it does not mean is that your fine Tuscan estate-bottled 2009-harvest extra-virgin, so expensive you feel you should dab it behind your ears instead of on your salad, is a fake. In extra-virgins, as in so many other aspects of food, you pays your money and you takes your chances. Just because it says extra-virgin doesn’t mean it’s any good.

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reply to Paul Levy on extra-virgin olive oil

Thanks for your comment, Paul. The situation with extra-virgin oil is not quite as dire as Armando Manni would have you believe. Certainly, proper handling, keeping the oil away from light and heat, is important for maintaining quality, and the very finest oils doubtless retain more of their subtler characteristics if shipped under nitrogen. And it is true that all extra-virgin oils will degrade with time, no matter how carefully they are handed. Oil is a living, organic substance and changes with time. But for those of us who use extra-virgin olive oil constantly, in our kitchens and on our tables, the idea that an oil becomes little more than Mazola after two or three months is absurd. Yes, it changes but it is still a superb ingredient and should continue to be handled with respect. For me, the best model for care and use of extra-virgin olive oil comes directly from Mediterranean cooks who store oil in a cool, dark pantry and use it every day for everything from fried potatoes to salad dressing.
Nancy Jenkins

a guest , August 11, 2010

Paul Levy: Estate oils

Nancy, I thought there was general agreement that all EVOOs, even single-estate oils, degrade fairly rapidly unless they are pressed, stored and handled, as are, e.g., Armando Manni's oils, using nitrogen blanket technology and anti-UV glass storage bottles. My experience is that all other EVOO should be consumed as soon as possible after pressing, certainly within two or three months. Paul Levy

a guest , August 10, 2010

more from nhj

These are some interesting comments and I'm especially grateful to Marcella Hazan for her important perspective. Apart from your incredible range of knowledge, Marcella, your long experience in understanding the relationship between Americans and Italian food is invaluable for those of us who followed somewhat timidly in your footsteps.
I did want to respond to several of the suggestions. First of all, I may live (part of the year) in Italy and write (but hardly exclusively) about Italian food and wine, but no Italian producer of anything (food, wine, olive oil, Ferraris--would that it were) has ever paid me to write about them. But the California olive oil companies that were mentioned, and the California Olive Oil Council did indeed fund the UCDavis study--and that to me suggests conflict of interest. As I learned years ago when I was a working journalist, even the suggestion, and not necessarily the existence, of conflict of interest creates problems of veracity.
Secondly, several commenters have implied, not necessarily in these words, that you can't cook with extra-virgin olive oil. Nothing could be further from the truth--as fine chefs and home cooks alike all over the Mediterranean will testify. They wouldn't dream of using anything else. Of course, it isn't fine estate-bottled oil, as Cliff points out, any more than you'd dump a bottle of Chateau Margaux in your boeuf bourguignon. One point we seem to ignore is that there is evoo and then there is evoo--which is why a movement like TRE-E and the "Beyond Extra-Virgin" conferences, also backed in part by The Olive Center at Davis, are so important. They represent a very worthy attempt to define what high quality in olive oil means and how to get that across to consumers, whether fancy chefs or home cooks or anything in between.
Nancy Harmon Jenkins

a guest , August 06, 2010

...

To suggest that the Davis study may somehow be tainted because of its relationship with the CA growers is akin to suggesting Ms. Jenkins is biased because she lives in and writes about Italy and must have, over the years developed equally cozy relationships with the Italian olive growers and distributors there, thus her desire to come to their defense. But to sum up the study by saying that, when it comes to EEOO "you pays your money and you takes your chances" is to be so cavalier as to be virtually dismissive of the study, which may be her intent. But for the consumer this is not so easy. Purchasing EEOO does not, nor should it, boil down to a crap shoot. Consumers should have some sense of trust when they purchase imported EEOO and since the New Yorker article many years back that trust has been undermined. And it cannot be got back by trying to reduce the deficiencies in the oil to a matter of handling. Growers cannot pawn off the quality, or lack of quality, of their oil to some poor handler who loads a truck or stocks the shelves. This makes no sense either as those same guys would naturally abuse all the oil they handle - including the ones that taste and test great. This article reads like an attempt at deflection of a worthy study, rather than an objective response.

a guest , August 05, 2010

Oils

First off this is old news and studies about the flaws of EVOO's has been written about in the NYT and New Yorker already. Storage and shipping is everything and to fairly evaluate oils they should be tested and tasted at the source.
I have EVOO (unopened) that was pressed in 2006 that is still wonderful due to proper storage. EVOO should never be used for cooking anymore than a fine Bordeaux would be used to make Sangria. In fact Olive oil burns so easily it is limited to a low heat saute, not frying, for best results. This is true of ALL, pure, all the way up to Extra Virgin. Using different oils for different uses is paramount to an enjoyable experience. I have several I like and use them differently. The Ligurian oil is buttery and smooth and best used on grilled seafood or in a salad - pasta dressing (i.e pesto) whereas some of the powerful Tuscan oils are intense (peppery, fruity, green olive tasting) and best eaten as a dipping oil or poured directly (and unadulterated) on pasta. Spanish oils (which were oddly not included in test) are more golden in color (versus green) and have a distinct "sun drenched" dryness to them and almost no peppery after burn. Oils from Provence are floral and extremely austere, in a good way.
Suffice to say EVOO is like wine and different producers using different varietals of olives, from different parts of the globe will produce different oils. In fact Chile and Argentina both have fantastic oils. The contention that it is "buyer beware" and you take your chances is ludicrous and no self respecting gourmet or wine shop would sell a product that is a "crap shoot". Know your retailer and buy with assurance that he / she has tasted the product and fairly represented it.

David
(Mushroom man)

a guest , August 05, 2010

...

If it says extra-virgin on the label and it isn't, well, there's your problem. If Mediterraneans like cheaper cooking oils, no doubt those oils they're not labeled extra-virgin.

a guest , August 05, 2010

Marcella Hazan

Nancy makes an important point about proper storage and display that I can confirm through unfortunate personal experience. Several decades ago, Bloomingdales had asked me to stock a food boutique bearing my name with samples of the best Italian products. Among these was a beautiful estate bottled olive oil from a small Tuscan producer that I used in my school. During one of my visits to New York I found that oil displayed under a hot light and when tasted, it was rancid. Eventually I pulled out of my arrangement with the store. An online retailer of Italian foods has inferred from the test Nancy describes that virtually all the oils sold in stores are defective, but even their own highly touted and very expensive oils would show similar defects if they were badly stored and displayed. It is true also, and not generally known, although Clifford points it out, that many Mediterranean cooks prefer a lower quality oil in their frying pans. The overall implication is that we should strive to be better informed and more discriminating about the oils we buy and the uses we put them to and rely on our own observations and tasting judgments. I don't know, however, how feasible that may turn out to be.

a guest , August 05, 2010

...

"Wisconsin factory cheddar?"

Have you HAD some of the wisconsin factory cheddars? Go read James Norton's "Master Cheesemakers of Wisconsin" and get back to me.

Heck, if Hook's is good enough for Thomas Keller...

a guest , August 05, 2010

vintage oils

Until all the producers put the harvest data on the bottles, buying good oil is going to be a crap shoot. Should Californians do what I've always done as regards wine -- that is, it makes much more sense for me on the East Coast to buy European wines that have come to this country in the holds of ships, below the water line (and the best importers insist that, indeed, they be placed there), than to risk my investment on wines that are -- regardless of what the distributors say -- shipped across the country in unrefrigerated trucks and then to unrefrigerated warehouses. I saw one well-known distributor's unrefrigerated truck parked in front of one of Washington, DC's toniest restaurants recently. It was 100 degrees outdoors. I simply made notes to myself to avoid eating in that restaurant (I drink wine with my meals) and to avoid buying any wines sold by that company. With the heat we've had on the East Coast this summer, all I've wanted are chilled rosés. So I bought a case of one of my favorites, only to be sorely disappointed in the 2009. I've never had a bad vintage of the wine, but this one is totally without structure. Is it the vintage or the shipping/storage? How will I ever know?
John Martin Taylor
Washington DC

a guest , August 02, 2010

olive oil confusion

This is an important article. The public perception of olive oil is very confused and everybody from producers, to gourmets, to TV chefs, to food writers have contributed to the confusion, in part for the reasons covered by Nancy above. Moreover, and first, there's this thought that "extra-virgin" is the end all of olive oils, the best in other words. Now, it's true it is supposed to have the lowest acidity, but, for example, in Lebanon and Palestine, cooks use what we've been told is the lower quality "olive oil" (sometimes labeled "pure") and this is why those two regions have had trouble penetrating the US market. Many tasters find them acidic, but depending on the cooking use of the oil, sometimes that's not bad. The critical tasters are sipping the oil in a way it wasn't intended, in a way more common to an estate bottled Italian oil. These oils are cooking oils not tasting oils. And what if you're deep-frying? Well, then you could use an even lower quality (cheaper) oil. The best advice for the consumer is taste before reading. Buy an olive oil, use it for cooking, then ask yourself if it was reasonably priced and if you liked it. There will be more than one oil you'll like. So, that's what you buy and use.

cliffordwright , August 02, 2010