In supermarkets in northern Europe you can easily find 5 or 10 different brands of olive oil on the shelves. If you don't know very much about olive oil, what should you look for? First of all a word of warning: some companies fiddle with their olive oil. Since there is too little supervision, there is so little chance of their getting caught that there is always room for fraud. All bona fide producers of olive oil realised that and are furious about. What is this all about? In the first place, bottles that are labelled as containing olive oil do not always actually contain olive oil. In the best-case scenario, it contains a mixture of olive oil and much cheaper, seed-based oils such as maize (corn), cotton, palm, sunflower or soy, although rapeseed and linseed oil are also used to falsify olive oil (for more information, click here: http://www.z24.nl/bedrijven/voeding_drank/article85885.ece). The exasperation of Roger Briesch, President of the European Economic and Social Committee, regarding the fraudulent practices of olive oil swindlers, as expressed in articles 2.7 through 2.9 of his EU Regulation no. 827/68 from 2004, is illustrative and informative in this regard. To read that, click here. This EU regulation reveals that even when a bottle of olive oil contains genuine olive oil, also some of the larger companies are guilty of deceiving their customers. Manufacturers will very often blend olive oils from the different quality categories with each other for commercial purposes (click on 'Quality' for more information). For example, 85% cheap, refined olive oil (extracted from heated olive residues by means of chemicals) mixed with 15% expensive extra virgin olive oil (extracted cold by mechanical means from the pulp of fresh olives) is often marketed as being 100% extra virgin olive oil from the first cold pressing.* This kind of fraud can have considerable consequences for your taste experience and your health. Some good advice: Read and compare the labels carefully and with the appropriate amount of distrust. Pay attention to the expiry date. Trust your intuition. Don't go for the cheapest olive oil, but don't be fooled by the fanciest label either. The label of a bottle of good olive oil should say nothing but "E xtra Virgin Olive Oil". If you see the word 'refined', be aware! After all, refined olive oil is of inferior quality and at best suited for the deep fryer (click on 'Refined Olive Oil' for more information). Additives are not good. Words on the label of a bottle of olive oil such as 'pure', 'light', 'classic', 'delicate', 'fine' or 'soft' are the product of the manufacturer's imagination and only serve to mask an inferior quality. Once the bottle has been opened, you will have to trust your taste buds. Inferior olive oil tastes flat or rancid. The very best thing is to know your olive oil supplier personally. Many Western countries have a growing number of specialised shops where the staff really know everything about olive oil. Likewise, the chefs of renowned restaurants know exactly what they need to look for, assisted of course by their highly developed sense of taste. *N.B.: there is no longer such thing as a second cold pressing. That was still the case a hundred years ago when a neighbouring press might have been able to put more pressure on the pomace or 'presscake'. Nevertheless, the term 'first cold pressing' has remained and looks rather chic on a lable.
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