Scandal of Fake Olive Oil

[From article]
The reality is that this kind of fraudulent activity has been going on for centuries, and it isn’t likely to change dramatically any time soon. Not in Italy, or Spain, or Greece, or even right here in the US. It’s ugly, and unfortunate. There are many (many) multi-national commercial forces at play, and almost as many hot-button issues that cross industry lines, such as truth in labeling (a topic that wine trade organizations like the Napa Valley Vintners have taken up in earnest), lax governmental oversight, and underfunded or corrupt food inspection agencies.
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Here’s one step you can take to improve your chances of purchasing real olive oil that actually is what it says it is: turn the bottle around and read the back label. You’ll see an expiration date (usually two years after an oil was bottled) but what you’re looking for in particular is the harvest date; the further away the two-year date is, the fresher the oil is. Only one bottle — from California Olive Ranch – on the five shelves of olive oils in my supermarket indicated the harvest date, however.
Here’s the even better step you can take: seek out stores that sell authentic olive oil from drums, and taste the oil first.
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You may not have heard yet of Marco Oreggia’s Flos Olei guides to the extra virgin olive oils – it’s written in Italian and translated to English, the updated edition for 2014 is his fifth, and it reviews the olive growing sector in 47 countries including unexpected producers from New Zealand and Japan to South Africa, Nepal, and Brazil. The thick book isn’t just a “Who’s Who”; rather it’s a “This is serious, people.”
[. . .]
About that taste? Prepare yourself. Real olive oil – the good stuff – will be powerful and peppery and it will catch in your throat. You may cough, your eyes may water. But these are in fact good indications that what you’re tasting – finally! – is authentic. It is also full of the reasons, especially flavor and health, that we were drawn to olive oil in the first place.
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For further reading on this subject, see Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil by Tom Mueller,Italian Lessons by Joan L. Arndt,

http://www.forbes.com/sites/cathyhuyghe/2014/03/05/the-scam-of-olive-oil-and-its-antidote/

3/05/2014 @ 2:43PM
The Scam Of Olive Oil, And Its Antidote
Cathy Huyghe

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[From article]
Extra Virgin Oil Frauds
The term “virgin” when applied to olive oil doesn’t mean quality. There are four levels of virgin olive oil. The lowest grade of virgin olive oil is not fit for human consumption and designated for “other” uses, like making soap.
The top of the line olive oil is extra virgin. This means it’s cold-pressed so the temperature during processing hasn’t exceed 86 degrees Fahrenheit.(2) It’s also supposed to meet high standards of acidity and taste.
Independent tests at the University of California found that 69% of all store-bought extra virgin olive oils in the US are probably fake. This study reported that the following brands failed to meet extra virgin olive oil standards:
Bertolli
Carapelli
Colavita
Filippo Berio
Mazzola
Mezzetta
Newman’s Own
Safeway
Star
Whole Foods
[. . .]
Finding the Real Thing...
You naturally want to get what you pay for. If you are paying more for extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) and you care about your health, you don’t want to be buying diluted, adulterated junk.
Not only will fake oil lack health benefits, it could actually do you harm. Six hundred people died and 25,000 more were hospitalized by bad oil in Spain.(4) While that was highly unusual, I think you get the point.
A test you can try on any olive oil you currently have is to stick it in the fridge and see if it solidifies. If it doesn’t, you definitely don’t have olive oil. If it does this means you may have olive oil. Turning solid will tell you that you have a mostly a monounsaturated oil, but it won’t rule out whether it’s sunflower, safflower, or canola oils have been added. It won’t reveal if your olive oil has been tainted with chemicals, flavorings, or colorings either.
The same University of California study listed the following brands as having met their standards for being true extra virgin olive oil.
Corto Olive
California Olive Ranch
Kirkland Organic
Lucero (Ascolano)
McEvoy Ranch Organic
Pompeian
In their September 2012 issue, Consumer Reports published results of their taste test of 138 bottles of extra virgin olive oil from 23 manufacturers. The olive oil was sourced from a variety of countries including the US, Argentina, Greece, Chile, and Italy.
Their general finding was that those produced in California surpassed those from Italy. The two highest scoring olive oils, McEvoy Ranch and Trader Joe’s California Estate, were both from California.

http://cdn.eatlocalgrown.com/10-fake-olive-oil.html?t=elg

Fake Olive Oil: What You Need To Know New

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And from the self appointed internet truth detector

http://www.snopes.com/food/ingredient/oliveoil.asp