Protecting the Purity of Olive Oil

When you buy “extra-virgin” olive oil, you might think you’re purchasing a concentrated pure form of the ambrosia, but what you’re probably getting, most of the time, is a tainted substitute that could be mixed with anything from canola to peanut oil. How much of the health-enhancing pure “extra-virgin” olive oil are you actually getting when you buy a bottle of the stuff? It seems that not many people, even the sellers of these products, ever really know.

Tom Ashton of NPR’s radio show On Point, last week discussed the modern scandal surrounding the selling of olive oil with Tom Mueller, a writer for The New Yorker and author of “Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil.” On the show, Mueller and Ashton talked about how manufacturers are diluting “extra-virgin” olive oil to make a substance that’s a much lower quality than the straight oil. Of course the weakened olive oil offers far less health benefits than the purest form of the succulent nectar. What’s the reason for spoiling the extra virginity of fine olive oil? You guessed it – to rake in more profit.

To find out more about this scandal and to learn how you might be able to tell the true “extra-virgin” olive oil from the fake stuff, listen to Tom Ashton’s interview with Mueller and click here to find one company in the U.S. that sells the potent, high-quality olive oil that you remember from the good old days.

What a shame that so many olive oil makers are watering down the quality of the oil, since many health studies have shown the health benefits of consuming the pure juice. Researchers have said that olive oil can help to:

-- reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease
-- prevent constipation and help to maintain good digestive health
-- reduce blood pressure
-- prevent diabetes
-- prevent colon cancer
-- moisturize the skin and slow the aging process

“Lately the olive oil industry has been struggling with a wrenching crisis brought on by mass-market price wars and a flood of low quality olive oil — a lot of it falsely labelled extra virgin.” -- Olive Oil Times