Olive Oil Transparency
The olive oil market is unfortunately famous for fraud cases and lack of transparency.
Growers, cooperatives,bottling companies, importers,distributors there is a long chain from the olive tree to your table and transparency and good storage conditions aren’t always a top priority for each stakeholder.
Only the extra virgin olive oil will contain the taste and healthy benefits attributed to the olive tree, no chemical compounds or refined activities are added to its elaboration, you get a 100% olive juice.
To be qualified as extra virgin olive oil samples need to pass organoleptic tests by an expert panel and physical and chemical tests by an external laboratory which certifies the quality of the oil and if it can be categorized as extra virgin.
Transportation, storage, time after bottling can affect the quality of an extra virgin olive oil.
I would like to recommend always reading labelling information from the bottle: description, harvest time, bottling period, best before dates, variety, country of origin, bottling country, tasting notes.
You will need to preserve them against direct sunlight and excessive heat…best thing is to pour them for breakfast , lunch and dinner into your bread, rice, soups, creams, meat, fish,cheese, pasta dishes, fruits, cakes etc
Prices fluctuate due to harvest results, increasing demand from all over the world, competition with vegetable oils and other kind of oils, climatology and plagues reduce the volumes farmers can offer and market preferences towards countries of origin or categories of oils such as virgin olive oil or vegetable oil.
If you require chemical analysis for the extra virgin olive oils I sell through this website please email me and I can forward them to you. The analysis will provide information about the healthy state of the harvested olives, oxidation measure, percentage of omegas and polyphenols and pesticides among other data.