| Olive Oil Label Fraud in
Discount Supermarkets
Der Feinschmecker Magazine,
Hamburg Germany – Europe’s Largest Gourmet Magazine
May 2005 by Horst Schäfer-Schuchardt & Kersten Wetenkamp, Photos by
Wolfgang Schardt
-
reprinted by permission -
Translation by Roxanne Derni
www.MasDesBories.com
In supermarkets "Extra Virgin olive oils" are offered at dumping
prices. We tested eight olive oils using the latest methods in two
laboratories.
Results: Four oils from discount stores are mislabeled- they did not
hold up to the examinations and have apparently been treated.
Nowadays olive oils are in great demand, because of the well-known
positive health effects. Being among one of the most important
ingredients of the Mediterranean cuisine, olive oil has become a
fashionable food product. But how much should good olive oil cost?
In a deli, Italian olive oils of the highest quality category;
"extra virgin olive oil" cost about 10 to 20 Euro for half a liter.
In a discount store olive oil, reportedly of the same quality, is
available for about a tenth of the price:
The 0,75 liter bottle "Luccese" costs 2.60 Euro at Lidl, "Cantinelle"
2.20 Euro at Aldi; "Bancetto" was offered at the time of our
sampling for 2.20 Euro (in the meantime the article is not listed
anymore and olive oil from Crete – 5 Euro for a 0.75 liter bottle –
is provided under the same name)
Are people who are spending a lot of money in the deli therefore
foolish? No! We focused on four olive oils from supermarkets: "Cantinelle"
from Aldi, "Luccese" from Lidl, "Bancetto" from Edeka and an organic
olive oil called "Bio-Wertkost" also from Edeka. We tested these
supermarket products and additionally compared them with four more
olive oils with the exact geographic growing areas and supplier
declaration. The four different products tested were very different
from one another and not just concerning their flavors. In fact the
alleged first class olive oils from the discount stores are refined,
in other words thermally treated.
Processed Oils Samples 1 – 4, Group 1 on Test
Grocery Store: EDEKA –
Hamburg Germany
Name Brand: Bancetto Extra Virgin Olive Oil
(No Longer on Shelves, however an oil under the same name is now
sold for 5 € for a 0.75 liter, with the oil originating form
Crete)
Harvest Time: Not declared
Harvest Method: Not declared
Olive Variety: Not declared
Price: 2.20 Euro for 0.75 1iter
Taste Test: Olfactory off-notes - wine taste, a strange
metallic and untypical acerbic taste.
Result Dr. Gertz: Diglycerides Ratio 1,2/1,3: 1.1. Cold-Index:
1.7.
Analysis: This is an olive oil obviously extracted
from olives grown in different countries. The major part could
be from Spain. The oil was treated after pressing and does not
qualify under EU Standards as Extra Virgin Olive Oil. |
|
Grocery Store:
EDEKA – Northern Bavaria
Brand Name: Bio Wertkost Organic Olive
Oil
Harvest Time: Not declared
Harvest Method: Not declared
Olive Variety: Not declared
Price: 5.60 Euro for 0.50 liter
Taste Test: slight olfactory off¬notes,
rancid and metallic taste.
Result Dr. Gertz: Ratio of
diglycerides 1,2/1,3: 1
Cold-Index: 3.7
Analysis: This is an olive oil
basically from Spain. The oil was treated after pressing and
does not qualify under EU Standards as Extra Virgin Olive Oil. |
|
Grocery Store: LIDL
Northern Bavaria
Name Brand:
Luccese Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Harvest Time: not declared
Harvest Method: not declared
Olive Variety: not declared
Bottled: Lucca, Italy
Price: 2.60 Euro for 0.75 liter
Taste Test: Distinct olfactory
off-notes, metallic and winey taste, muddy.
Result Dr. Gertz: Diglycerides Ratio
1,2/1,3 : 0.6. Cold-Index: 19.2
Analysis:
This is an olive oil from Spain. The
oil was treated after pressing and does not qualify under EU
Standards as Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
Bottle Label: Bottled in Lucca |
|
Grocery Store: ALDI
– Northern Bavaria
(No longer on shelves)
Brand Name: Cantinelle
Harvest Time: not declared
Harvest Method: Not declared
Olive Variety: Not declared
Price: 2.20 Euro for 0.75 1iter
Taste Test: Slight olfactory
off-notes, metallic taste.
Result Dr. Gertz: Diglycerides Ratio
1,2/1,3:1.1.
Cold-Index: 1.9.
Analysis:
This is an olive oil mainly or solely from
Spanish origin. The oil was treated after pressing and does not
qualify under EU Standards as Extra Virgin Olive Oil. |
Extra Virgin Olive Oils, Samples 5 – 8, Group 2 on Test
|
Grocery Store: Tegut,
Fulda, Germany, tel. 0661-104435
Manufacturer: Principessa Marina
Colonna
Brand Name: Collona olio extra vergine
di oliva
Harvest Time: October 2004
Harvest Method: Hand picked
Olive Variety: Cima di Melfi,
Coratina, Frantoio, Leccino, Peranzana
Price: 10 Euro for 0.50 liter
Taste Test: Rosemary, sage, mint,
grass. Slightly harsh notes, but clearly acerbic. Harmonious and
elegant
Result Dr. Gertz: Diglycerides Ratio
1,2/1,3: 1.7.
Cold-index under O
Analysis:
Extra virgin olive oil', no sign of a later treatment. Origin of
olives, Italy |
|
Grocery Store : Tegut,
Fulda, Germany, tel. 0661-104435
Manufacturer: Conte Spagnoletti Zeuli
Brand Name : Terra di Bari Olio extra
vergine
Harvest Time: Nov.-Jan. 2004/2005
Harvest Method: Hand and mechanical
picked
Olive Variety: Coratina
Price: 15 Euro for 05.0 liter
Taste Test: ripe olives, yellow
apples, pears, slightly harsh notes, sweet almond taste,
peppery, savory aftertaste. Balanced.
Result Dr. Gertz: Diglycerides Ratio
1,2/1,3 : 2.1.
Cold-index smaller than O
Analysis: 'Extra virgin olive oil' no
sign of a later treatment. Origin of olives, Italy |
|
Grocery Store: Vintage,
Cologne, Germany,
tel. 0221-92 07 10
Manufacturer: Rodau
Brand Name: A Ubocassa
Harvest Time: October 2004
Harvest Method: Mechanical
Olive Variety: Arbequina
Price: 12 Euro for 0.50 liter
Taste Test: Freshly cut grass, forest
honey, ripe tomatoes, bell pepper. Mild bitter-walnut taste and
a peppery -savory aftertaste.
Result Dr. Gertz: Diglycerides Ratoio
1,2/1,3: 5.3. Cold-index 0.0
Analysis: The olive oil is solely of
Spanish origin and unprocessed |
|
Grocery Store: Vintage,
Cologne, Germany, tel. 0221-92 07 10
Manufacturer: Rolf Jordan/ Maria
Protouli-RafJelli
Brand Name: Jordan Olive oil
Harvest Time: end of November -
beginning of December 2004
Harvest Method: Hand picked
Olive Variety: Adramitiani, Kolovi
Price: 10 Euro for 0.50 liter
Taste Test: grass, hay, artichokes,
ripe tomatoes, pleasant and clear bitter notes, almond, bell
pepper and a peppery after taste.
Result Dr. Gertz: Diglycerides Ratio
1,2/1,3: 5.3
Cold-index: smaller than O
Analysis: The olive oil is from Greek
provenance. There is no
indication of illegal treatment. |
This is a typical case of consumer deception. Up to now supplying
evidence was quite difficult if not impossible and too subjective.
The panel results of sensory tests, usually performed by "Stiftung
Warentest" (an independent German consumer organization), appeared
contestable. Furthermore, nothing negative was detected in the
discount oils using the currently applied chemical analysis. These
tests measure in particular the concentration of oleic acid, an
indicator of olive oil quality. For the four examined samples from
the supermarket the concentration of oleic acid is below a limit of
0.8 percent required by food laws. However, there are still some
other discrepancies. It is naive to assume that olive oils offered
at knockdown prices with fine-sounding names like "Luccese", "Cantinelle"
or "Bancetto" really are from Italy. They are way too cheap, the
price is below the local production costs. Expenses for harvest and
transportation are about 3.25€ a liter in Italy. Expenses for
pressing, bottling and labeling are about 7€ a liter in Italy for a
total cost of 10.25€ a liter and this is after the EU subsidies have
already been deducted.
How can the discount store prices be justified? Olive oil from
Southern Spain or North Africa have lower production costs due to
lower cost of harvest personnel. Therefore it is cheaper than
Italian oils; the discount store olive oils that were only bottled
in Italy.
On the oil bottle "Cantinelle" from Aldi it is declared in small
letters: "Extracted from fresh olives of different origin in the
EU-Mediterranean area, locally pressed." Similarly, the label of the
oil from Lidl "Luccese" declares: "Bottled in Lucca". Same procedure
here. It is not exactly decent to pretend to the consumer this way
that olive oil pressed in a low income country was produced in
Italy. However, this fact does not say anything about the quality of
the product. Additionally, the described discount olive oils are not
"extra virgin" in terms of official EU definitions, specifically
"produced with pure mechanical processes" (in the past this was
defined as "cold pressed").
The results of a new and highly precise chemical analysis clearly
showed: All four examined supermarket oils from Aldi, Lidl and Edeka
were treated thermally. In 2001 the Italian chemist Andrea Serani
and two co-workers found a way to prove thermal treatment by means
of detecting diglycerides in olive oil: Unstable 1,2-diglycerides
transform under high temperatures into more resistant
1,3-diglycerides. Oils are treated thermally to decrease the acid
content and sensory weaknesses like rancid odor. If olive oil is
thermally treated the total amount of 1,3-diglycerides exceeds the
amount of 1,2-diglycerides. The graph on page 79 left illustrates
how great the natural oils differ from the treated oils. In Italy
and Greece the Serani method has been used for quite a while to
audit suspicious "extra virgin olive oils".
We assigned two specialized laboratories to test 8 oils using the
Serani method: Dr.Carmine Ventre in the Centro Analisi Biochimiche,
Rizziconi in Calabria/Southern Italy, and Dr. Christian Gertz,
director of Chemical Investigation Institute in Hagen, Germany. They
all came to the same results. Our 8 chosen oil samples generated two
groups, which revealed the difference between genuine and alleged
"extra virgin olive oils". According to the results using
traditional analysis methods all eight oils comply with the legal EU
requirements and belong to the highest category, the "extra virgin
olive oils". However, the bottle labels show important differences
between group 1-4 and group 5-8. Whereas in the first group no
information about producer locations, the position of olive groves,
harvest methods, the mill system and least of all about the olive
variety is disclosed. In contrast the oils of the second group give
all details that consumers look for.
Like wine, olive oil can be differentiated sensorially by
considering both the olfactory and flavor components. Every genuine
"extra virgin olive oil" generates a complex aroma diversity. Anyone
who fills olive oil into a glass and smells it, realizes quickly
whether this oil is lightly, medium or intensely fruity. Whether it
smells like freshly cut grass and green apples or rather like ripe
tomatoes. Or, whether the taste is sweet on the palate or harsh with
a spicy aftertaste.
Depending on the variety, a more or less intensive prickle can be
sensed on the palate due to the oils' polyphenol composition. This
is regarded as an indication of the oil's freshness.
Old oils, or treated and inexpensive oils, such as the samples
analyzed in the first group do not show such a wide array of
sensorial characteristics.
The analysis of Dr. Ventre in Italy and Dr. Gertz in Hagen in
Germany resulted in the following evaluation: All examinations
performed of the olive oils 1-4, the discount oils showed, that the
oils "were not strictly mechanically processed, meaning something
other than just pressing occurred. This means that these oils could
have been treated with hot vapor from 80 to 100 degrees Celsius in a
high vacuum to eliminate bad odors and/or with alkali in order to
decrease the excessive acid content.
Dr. Gertz: "When treating olive oil in a high vacuum, different
by-products derived from chlorophyll are formed - the pheophytines.
The cold-index measures the content of pyropheophytines. A
cold-index above 0.1 indicates thermal treatment." Other evidence
for such treatment is a high percentage of 1,3-diglycerides in
comparison to 1,2-diglycerides. Dr. Gertz: "The ratio of
1,2/1,3diglycerides C36 should be significantly greater than 1.
Different results indicate alkali and vapor ,treatment." This
analysis provides information about the origin of the olives used in
olive oil production.
By knowing the distribution of the fatty acid glycerides and the UV
absorption spectra well-versed chemists can tell which olive oil
comes from which region.
Dr. Gertz's laboratory analysis for the Lidl oil: "The olive oil 'Luccese'
was tested, supplier: Lidl, Neckarsulm. This olive oil is made
solely from olives of Spanish origin. The sample was tested, to
determine whether it was treated to correct possible sensory
failures or to eliminate components, which could influence the
long-term oil storage abilities. Several degradation reactions were
observed in the water vapor treatment. However, the valid current
analytical procedures (EU-ordiance 796) were not specific enough to
detect such manipulations. Therefore more recent and more accurate
analytical tests have to be applied. Concerning the present sample
and regarding the evaluation of current analytical methods one could
say that the oil was not only treated mechanically. The same results
would have been established if processed oil (not only mechanically
treated oil) were added. In its mode of extraction the oil of the
category 'extra virgin olive oil' does therefore not comply with the
decree 796 and decree 1019/2002, the marketing standards for olive
oil. A positive counter-example is the result of the oil "Aubocassa"
from Spain: "The olive oil is an oil solely from Spanish origin and
has not been treated."
Reprinted with permission from Der Feinschmecker
Der
Feinschmecker contact: Kersten Wetenkamp –
Kersten.Wetenkamp@Der-Feinschmecker.de
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