Skip to content
CapRadio

CapRadio

listen live donate
listen live donate
listen live
donate
  • News
    • News

    • State Government
    • Environment
    • Health Care
    • Race and Equity
    • Business
    • Arts and Lifestyle
    • Food and Sustainability
    • PolitiFact California
    News
    • News

    • State Government
    • Environment
    • Health Care
    • Race and Equity
    • Business
    • Arts and Lifestyle
    • Food and Sustainability
    • PolitiFact California
  • Music
    • Music

    • Classical
    • Jazz
    • Eclectic

    • Daily Playlist
    Music
    • Music

    • Classical
    • Jazz
    • Eclectic

    • Daily Playlist
  • Podcasts & Shows
  • Schedules
  • Events
  • Support
    • Support
    • Ways to support
    • Evergreen Donation
    • One-Time Donation
    • Corporate Sponsorship
    • Vehicle Donation
    • Stock Giving
    • Legacy Giving
    • Endowment Support
    • Members
    • Member Benefits
    • Member FAQ
    • Member Newsletter

    • Fund drives
    • Drawing Winners
    • Thank You Gifts
    Support
    • Support
    • Ways to support
    • Evergreen Donation
    • One-Time Donation
    • Corporate Sponsorship
    • Vehicle Donation
    • Stock Giving
    • Legacy Giving
    • Endowment Support
    • Members
    • Member Benefits
    • Member FAQ
    • Member Newsletter

    • Fund drives
    • Drawing Winners
    • Thank You Gifts
  • About
  • Close Menu
 We Get Support From:
Become a Supporter 
 We Get Support From:
Become a Supporter 

Clearing Up Confusion About Olive Oil Labeling

  •  Elaine Corn 
Thursday, August 1, 2013 | Sacramento, CA
Listen
/
Update RequiredTo play audio, update browser or Flash plugin.
  

Two shoppers are trying to make sense of olive oil labels at a Nugget Market in Davis. There’s a large selection of olive oil from top notch local oil to imports better suited for oil lamps.

"I’d look for the fancy label first," says David Mattos.

Nancy Boyd rattles off a series of names: "Arbequina, Arbosana, Koroneiki."

"Composed of refined olive oils and virgin olive oils," Mattos reads from the label of one bottle.

"So it could be Greek olives, Italian olives," says Boyd.

Mattos falls for the term ‘”pure.”

"You’d think pure olive oil would be pretty good," he says.

Nancy Boyd peers through her glasses, dubious.

"I’m not sure what extra-virgin is. Are you or aren’t you?" she asks with a hearty chuckle.

Dan Flynn, executive director of the UC Davis Olive Center, is not surprised by the confusion.  He learned from the recent UC Davis survey Consumer Attitudes on Olive Oil that only one in four of us understands olive oil grades.

"We’ve inherited a lot of the marketing terms for olive oil," explains Flynn. "They’re not terms that are providing clarity to the consumer about the level of quality that they’re buying."

The word “pure” is problematic but legal.

"Pure, which is such a great word from a marketing standpoint, indicates to a lot of consumers that they’re buying the very best olive oil but in fact it’s a lower grade," he says.

To be clear, extra-virgin is the highest grade. Even more maddening is that the term pure connotes oil that’s made from olives, maybe not such great olives. Which brings Flynn to the term refined, which he explains "doesn’t mean elegant or high class."

Refined oil is chemically-processed with solvents to mask off-odors and flavors.

Dr. Selina Wang is the Research Director at the Olive Center. She’s a chemist who oversees this lab and designed the study. Wang is from Taiwan, where olive oil is not so familiar.

"It probably took me several months to figure out all this terminology and nomenclature. It’s very confusing," says Wang.

0801EC_embed

Orietta Gianjorio is a member of the UC Davis olive oil taste panel. She's from Rome but now lives in Carmichael. As she arranges about a dozen bottles of olive oil of varying height, origin and quality on a kitchen countertop, she says olive oil labels confuse Italians, too.

"When I go home to Italy, I see people standing in front of the bottle of olive oil, thinking and pondering which one do I buy," she says.

Her advice? Taste it and smell it when you get home. Gianjorio says you’ll know it’s rancid.

"If the olive oil smells anything like wax, bad salami, old peanut butter… I can go into some other terminology that is not that nice, as for instance, baby diaper, manure, old gym clothes, sweaty socks…"

Rancid oil can form harmful free radicals. Extra-virgin olive oil, with its polyphenols and antioxidants, is only healthy when it’s fresh.  And freshness depends on the harvest date.

"If the back label doesn’t have harvest date, you may consider putting that bottle back in the shelf," she advises.

The UC Davis Olive Center’s Dan Flynn says America may need its own labeling system.

"We need to get to the point in the United States where a consumer can pick up a bottle of olive oil and at least be assured that it meets a minimum standard of quality, just like they can do now with wine," says Flynn.


Follow us for more stories like this

CapRadio provides a trusted source of news because of you.  As a nonprofit organization, donations from people like you sustain the journalism that allows us to discover stories that are important to our audience. If you believe in what we do and support our mission, please donate today.

Donate Today  

    Related Stories

  • Insight: Economic Climate / Olive Oil Label / Karate Mountain / Sound Advice: Classical

    Thursday, August 1, 2013
    Studies indicate continued economic recovery in the region. What does that really mean for residents? How to avoid bad olive oil by disregarding the labels. Instrumental neo-steampunk band releases new album. Cale Wiggins with some new music releases

    Related Resources

  • Read the UC Davis Survey: Consumer Attitudes on Olive Oil
  • Olive oil grades as defined by the International Olive Council (pdf) (pdf)

Elaine Corn

Contributing Food & Lifestyle Reporter

Sign up for ReCap and never miss the top stories

Delivered to your inbox every Friday.

 

Check out a sample ReCap newsletter.

Thanks for subscribing!

Thank you for signing up for the ReCap newsletter! We'll send you an email each Friday with the top stories from CapRadio.

Browse all newsletters

More Stories

Andrew Reed / EdSource

California districts vary enormously in reading achievement, report finds

March 29, 2023

AP Photo/José Luis Villegas

LIGHT THE BEAM: The Sacramento Kings are going to the NBA playoffs

March 29, 2023

Gregory Bull / AP Photo

CSU faculty salary study shows wide dissatisfaction despite pay being at national averages

March 25, 2023

Most Viewed

A plumber crawled under a house in Los Angeles to do a job and then went missing

State may scale down its new home loan program designed to assist first-time homebuyers

California coronavirus updates: Counties with universities saw population increases after students returned from pandemic closures

Trans Day of Visibility celebrations come to the Sacramento region this weekend

10 new California laws that go into effect in 2023

We Get Support From:
Become a Supporter

Most Viewed

A plumber crawled under a house in Los Angeles to do a job and then went missing

State may scale down its new home loan program designed to assist first-time homebuyers

California coronavirus updates: Counties with universities saw population increases after students returned from pandemic closures

Trans Day of Visibility celebrations come to the Sacramento region this weekend

10 new California laws that go into effect in 2023

Back to Top

  • CapRadio

    7055 Folsom Boulevard
    Sacramento, CA 95826-2625

    •  
      (916) 278-8900
    •  
      (877) 480-5900
    •  Contact / Feedback
    •  Submit a Tip / Story Idea
  • About

    • Mission / Vision / Core Values
    • Stations & Coverage Map
    • Careers & Internships
    • Staff Directory
    • Board of Directors
    • Press
  • Listening Options

    • Mobile Apps
    • Smart Speakers
    • Podcasts & Shows
    • On-Air Schedules
    • Daily Playlist
    • Signal Status
  • Connect

    •  Facebook
    •  Twitter
    •  Instagram
    •  YouTube
  • Donate

  • Listen Live

  • Newsletters

CapRadio stations are licensed to California State University, Sacramento. © 2023, Capital Public Radio. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy | Website Feedback FCC Public Files: KXJZ KKTO KUOP KQNC KXPR KXSR KXJS. For assistance accessing our public files, please call 916-278-8900 or email us.