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The Adulteration of Italian Olive Oil

nytimes.com

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Re: The Adulteration of Italian Olive Oil

#31

Post by busterarm »

crazygringo wrote: post #22

Unlike many counterfeit things... as far as I can tell, this really doesn't make any difference in the end, because olive oil is all about flavor, not labels. Good olive oil can taste hundreds of ways, just like wine -- there are even olive oil tastings. The flavor can't be counterfeited at all, so it doesn't really matter what's on the label, what country it comes from, etc. -- olive oil is all so different, it can…

Most Keto folks really care about what cooking oils they use because of different fat contents, but most of them aren't using olive oil and using coconut oil for everything anyway.

Personally I'd be really pissed about getting cut olive oil because usually it's Sunflower or Safflower oil and both (along with Grapeseed Oil) have massive quantities of highly-undesirable Omega-6. Might as well have gotten the substantially cheaper corn or soybean oils because they're just as bad for you.

Re: The Adulteration of Italian Olive Oil

#33

Post by hsitz »

crazygringo wrote: post #22

Unlike many counterfeit things... as far as I can tell, this really doesn't make any difference in the end, because olive oil is all about flavor, not labels. Good olive oil can taste hundreds of ways, just like wine -- there are even olive oil tastings. The flavor can't be counterfeited at all, so it doesn't really matter what's on the label, what country it comes from, etc. -- olive oil is all so different, it can…

" The flavor can't be counterfeited at all, so it doesn't really matter what's on the label . . . . You might have 5 different olive oils in your cupboard depending on what you're using them for, but you didn't buy any of them based on their label!"

Huh? What world are you living in? I mean, maybe you have five different olive oils in your cupboard and maybe their labels had nothing to do with the ones you chose. But do you really think that the average reader on HN (or average purchaser in US) chooses which brand of olive oil to buy by taste? Holy moly, out of touch. I suppose next you'll be telling us that a wine or winery's name or a wine bottle's label have nothing to do with why people choose it? Welcome to the world of "marketing".

Re: The Adulteration of Italian Olive Oil

#34

Post by crazygringo »

rosser wrote: post #30
crazygringo wrote: post #22

Unlike many counterfeit things... as far as I can tell, this really doesn't make any difference in the end, because olive oil is all about flavor, not labels. Good olive oil can taste hundreds of ways, just like wine -- there are even olive oil tastings. The flavor can't be counterfeited at all, so it doesn't really matter what's on the label, what country it comes from, etc. -- olive oil is all so different, it can…

as far as I can tell, this really doesn't make any difference in the end Unfortunately, that's not the case. When olive oil is adulterated with oils that have lower smoke points, and that adulterated oil is then used under heat, for cooking, the adulterant oils can break down and yield toxic compounds (e.g., aldehydes and hydroperoxids). [1] EDIT: Also, as noted by a sibling comment, the Ω3:Ω6 ratios for some of the…

EVOO already has a low smoke point as far as oils are concerned, processed soy/canola/corn/etc. oil all have significantly higher smoke points.

I can't imagine a scenario where a manufacturer would be adulterating EVOO with another oil that has a lower smoke point -- there just aren't any that would be make economic sense, as far as I know.

Re: The Adulteration of Italian Olive Oil

#35

Post by tibbon »

Because of this stuff, I only buy my oil at this point from makers who I personally have a connection with, and I know are selling 100% legitimate stuff (a good friend's family has an organic olive grove and press in Sicily, so I buy from that mostly now).

I'm constantly saddened by the fact that more countries don't enforce food labeling regulation, either internally or for import. The US alone could probably fix this problem really fast by banning the import of mislabeled food products with high penalties for the import of poorly labeled ones.

Re: The Adulteration of Italian Olive Oil

#36

Post by busterarm »

hsitz wrote: post #33
crazygringo wrote: post #22

Unlike many counterfeit things... as far as I can tell, this really doesn't make any difference in the end, because olive oil is all about flavor, not labels. Good olive oil can taste hundreds of ways, just like wine -- there are even olive oil tastings. The flavor can't be counterfeited at all, so it doesn't really matter what's on the label, what country it comes from, etc. -- olive oil is all so different, it can…

" The flavor can't be counterfeited at all, so it doesn't really matter what's on the label . . . . You might have 5 different olive oils in your cupboard depending on what you're using them for, but you didn't buy any of them based on their label!" Huh? What world are you living in? I mean, maybe you have five different olive oils in your cupboard and maybe their labels had nothing to do with the ones you chose. But…

It's a decent enough gamble on HN. Most of the younger east-coast and scandinavian techies that I know are very much into foodieism. "Foodie Dice" was an incredibly successful Kickstarter campaign. Younger folks are starting to care a lot more about ingredients than the past few generations it seems.

Re: The Adulteration of Italian Olive Oil

#37

Post by busterarm »

crazygringo wrote: post #34
rosser wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

as far as I can tell, this really doesn't make any difference in the end Unfortunately, that's not the case. When olive oil is adulterated with oils that have lower smoke points, and that adulterated oil is then used under heat, for cooking, the adulterant oils can break down and yield toxic compounds (e.g., aldehydes and hydroperoxids). [1] EDIT: Also, as noted by a sibling comment, the Ω3:Ω6 ratios for some of the…

EVOO already has a low smoke point as far as oils are concerned, processed soy/canola/corn/etc. oil all have significantly higher smoke points. I can't imagine a scenario where a manufacturer would be adulterating EVOO with another oil that has a lower smoke point -- there just aren't any that would be make economic sense, as far as I know.

sunflower and safflower oils, the two most commonly substituted oils for olive oil (as far as counterfeiting goes), have a similar or _much lower_ smoke point than olive oil in an unrefined state. 225F, in fact. That's almost 100 degrees lower than olive oil.

Re: The Adulteration of Italian Olive Oil

#38

Post by jsolson »

Stratoscope wrote: post #11

What do I see when I get to this page? An olive skull and crossbones with EXTRA VIRGIN SUICIDE. Let me scroll down so I can see more! I hit the down arrow. Nothing happens. I try the Page Down key. Nothing happens. Ah, yes, I know, the keyboard doesn't always work on every website. I'll just use the scroll bar! Hmm... No scroll bar. Wait! Over on the right, there's a box with a triangle in it, pointing up. It almost…

My experience: "Hey, there are a bunch of dots at the bottom, just like my iPhone. The left one is lit up. I'll try tapping right. Oh, neat."

Honestly never even noticed the giant right arrow on the right side.

My wife (who didn't see me navigating about), within ~2 seconds of looking at the page, said she'd tap the giant arrow to go to the next page.

While I think they could certainly have done better, I don't think it's as bad as you're making it out to be.

My biggest complaint is that on mobile the pages snap in rather than sliding in as you swipe.

Re: The Adulteration of Italian Olive Oil

#39

Post by crazygringo »

hsitz wrote: post #33
crazygringo wrote: post #22

Unlike many counterfeit things... as far as I can tell, this really doesn't make any difference in the end, because olive oil is all about flavor, not labels. Good olive oil can taste hundreds of ways, just like wine -- there are even olive oil tastings. The flavor can't be counterfeited at all, so it doesn't really matter what's on the label, what country it comes from, etc. -- olive oil is all so different, it can…

" The flavor can't be counterfeited at all, so it doesn't really matter what's on the label . . . . You might have 5 different olive oils in your cupboard depending on what you're using them for, but you didn't buy any of them based on their label!" Huh? What world are you living in? I mean, maybe you have five different olive oils in your cupboard and maybe their labels had nothing to do with the ones you chose. But…

I don't think you get it -- that's my point. If your "average purchaser in the US" can't tell the difference, then it won't matter to them anyways, right? And if they can tell the difference, then they're already buying by flavor.

EVOO isn't Coca-Cola. There's no standard flavor. It's the same as complaining about counterfeit wine -- if it tastes good for the price, does it ultimately matter if it's "counterfeit" or not? The flavor is the flavor.

Re: The Adulteration of Italian Olive Oil

#40

Post by maxerickson »

dsrguru wrote: post #24
maxerickson wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The page pushes a token into the url. Crop it where it makes sense. The whole extra virgin olive oil thing is weird anyway, other vegetable oils have (probably) better health profiles and a more neutral flavor profile (people aren't just buying it for their salad).

Extra virgin olive oil has a pretty great monounsaturated to polyunsaturated fat ratio and good flavor for salad dressing, eggs, sauces, meat dishes, etc. The only real downsides are low smoke point (some sources say that that means trans fat and other scary stuff can show up at the high temperatures used in stir-frying and deep-frying) and that good flavor != neutral flavor, which is sometimes preferable. Some press…

I cook eggs in butter. Eggs in olive oil isn't something I enjoy. And people really are looking for neutral flavors (how else is 'extra light olive oil' a thing?).

I'm not really aware of any reason to prefer monounsaturated fats vs polyunsaturated fats (and other oils beat olive oil on unsaturated vs saturated).

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