CBS’s ‘60 Minutes‘ did an expose on Italian Olive Oil…since then been cautious, and here’s why. Italy, a country synonymous with Olive Oil, likely a giant fraud! They import massive quantities of Olive Oil, tainted , containing toxins from surrounding Mediterranean countries. This includes war torn Syria, Morocco, Tunisia (might be the best!), and Spain. They hardly have enough good Olive Oil for themselves…so this 16 Billion $…yes Billion!… import, shifted to export! Hoax Olive Oil?
How to protect? Strangely go to the Costco and Big Box stores…they do homework…and settle for no less than Extra Virgin…otherwise risk of tainted, oxidized, dangerous, contaminated, just bottled …not pressed….in Italy!…Hoax Olive Oil?
Trouble, Olive Oil has short life…2 to say 8 hours from picking…the harvest date should be stated, and max. 6 months old! Avoid restaurant so called Olive Oils…they usually provide green mixture, & non labelled jar… not the real bottle… filled with rancid, dangerous vegetable oil! Bread accompanying, cheap filler! Also, they cook with this stuff, changes chemically for worse, even carcinogenic, with heat! Notice their salad dressings invariably not in a bottle, with a label that says ‘Extra Virgin Olive Oil”!
The only way to confidently get ‘Extra Virgin Olive Oil’ is to let, for example, Costco, do the legwork…it’s quite sophisticated, and they are sufficiently concerned and large enough, to not only carry out that work, but to provide unadulterated product at a reasonable price. Also, good chance for real Omega 3…and even 9, as opposed to Omega 6, of which we get far too much! Otherwise Australia, or even Chile…anywhere where the Mafia not involved, and the weather good enough, to grow great grapes! But be circumspect of Europe….despite all the theoretical bureaucratic EU oversight, the further South one goes…there is rampant corresponding corruption! Spain its own nightmare …and Greece… they keep the good stuff for themselves! Hoax Olive Oil?
