Disturbing news. Especially that some is adulterated with peanut oil. There are individuals who have a genuinely life-threatening peanut allergy, including one of my nieces.
There would be such a huge lawsuit if someone were harmed because of mixing peanut oil with EVOO.
I grew up near peanut farms, and I haven’t quite understood why I never met anyone with a peanut allergy when I was a kid.
I just heard that there’s now speculation that if you’re exposed to peanuts before your first birthday, you’re less likely to have the allergy. Did anyone see this study - or its inevitable rebuttals?
Yes, I saw that. My niece with the peanut allergy has other allergies and auto-immune problems. The funny thing is, I remember my SIL frequently eating PB sandwiches as a pick-me-up when she was nursing my niece. You would think that would provide some exposure, since an awful lot of things are passed through breast milk.
The new work out of the UK is that exposure to peanuts at a young age gets rid of peanut allergies later. It appears the immune system in some people needs the exposure to jumpstart. I would not be surprised if the advice about not eating nuts reverses in the next few years.
As for adulterated olive oil, it’s been a scandal for a very long time. There was even a famous instance of a poisonous oil mixed in with people seriously injured and dying. This is one reason I tend to buy from places like Costco because they carefully source their oil. Or from the US.
Note that adulterated refers to both nonEVOO sold as and stuff sold as “Italian” or whatever and actually being a mix of oils, much of them cheaper ones.
Ugh…I have bought three of the " bad ones at various times " and I have only heard of one of the authentic ones.
I have been only buying the Kirkland (Costco) olive oil lately because of the news of so many brands of adulterated. I trust Costco because I think they generally are extremely careful about sourcing, but I can’t find any article that says that their oil is definitely not adulterated.
And I’ve read that there is no accurate test that can be done in a home to determine if the oil is 100% olive oil. Since the oil we eat directly impacts one’s health, this is very disturbing to me.
BTW, I have read that honey is also commonly adulterated. Sigh.
I can’t buy local olive oil , but I can buy local honey…no shortage of that in my area. I have two friends that are beekeepers
Interesting article. I don’t buy Kirkland olive oil because I’m not crazy about the taste. It’s not bad, I just don’t love it. I’ve tried getting California oils, even buying some that have date stamps for the time of harvest, and still wasn’t crazy about the taste either.
I love the brand Aulio, from Turkey, and I’d be very surprised to hear it was adulterated because it tastes so very, very good. No way of knowing without a chemist though! I guess I’ll buy Pompeiian or Kirkland for basic use and hoard the Aulio for dipping bread into.
Very upsetting, but not new news. I am surprised at Whole Foods, though. I’ve been buying Trader Joe’s California Estate Extra Virgin for several years primarily because of the taste, but also I trust California olive oil after reading earlier reports about this problem. I’ve found other good ones at local farmer’s markets, but none that are as good a value as the Trader Joe’s brand.
Here’s another link that lists approved olive oils that are given a seal on their label by the California Olive Oil Council.
http://www.oliveoiltimes.com/olive-oil-basics/world/cooc-seal/24756
It’s too bad about Italy being misused this way. It happens with clothing manufacture too. Typically Chinese illegal sweatshops open up in Italy so they can charge more for a coveted country of origin tag and the police just can’t keep up with the volume of them.
We go to Fairway where you can comparison taste all the olive oils. Those fakers are doing a good job because I’m pretty sure we have some!
I have to say the best olive oil I’ve ever had is the oil we picked up in Jordan. We watched it being pressed. Our driver picked up a five gallon can and poured out a couple of quarts for us, wrapped it in many layers of saran wrap. We crossed our fingers it wouldn’t pop in our luggage! So yummy!
There was a huge honey scandal:
Luckily, it is easy to buy local honey here.
The peanut allergy article is a good one, in the NEJM. My neighbor, an allergist, is quite excited about it.
What a sorry lot the human race is sometimes.
I’m also disturbed about the olive oil. 
Luckily, my D and her H keep bees, so I’m pretty confident about my honesy source!
I’ve been using the California Ranch olive oil. I have been buying it at Costco in a double pack. They don’t always have it so when they do I buy several.
I use a fair amount of olive oil and buy a brand I heard about ages ago on the PBS Show Victory Garden. It’s from Tuscany–Laudemio–and I can purchase it at Whole Foods. After reading this article, it seems like there’s no way of knowing if that olive oil has been adulterated. So annoying.
I’ve been buying my olive oil at a specialty olive oil and vinegar shop for a year or so. Every bottle has the harvest date and the chemistry of the oil on it.
When I first heard there was going to be an olive oil shop where a favorite cafe of mine was - I was thinking how in the world are they ever going to make a go of that. But, they seem to be doing great and have a second store now.
H & I go and pick out a few bottles of oil and vinegar at a time. It’s kind of like shopping for wine.