Australian consumer organisation Choice has published a new survey showing that imported olive oils available in supermarkets are less than reliable, with 50% of those tested failing to meet minimum label standards. One of the biggest failures for New Zealand consumers was Lupi Extra Virgin, New Zealand’s biggest selling brand, which failed minimum standards for the extra virgin name.
The results have prompted a call from Australian olive growers for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission for failing to uphold label standards.
Nine of the top 10 oils in the survey were from Australia, with the top three being brands produced by the same company, Boundary Bend, Australia’s largest grower of olives and the largest producer of extra virgin olive oil.
The only oil to make the top 10 with the Choice tasting panel, Woolworth’s Home Brand Extra Virgin Olive Oil from Spain, was one of the imports that failed to meet the IOC minimum standard for extra virgin olive oil.
Other oils that failed to meet the standards and are also available in New Zealand included: Bertolli, La Espagnola, Casa Barolli as well as Lupi.
The oil that rated highly in grill magazine’s latest oil tasting, Borges, did not fare as well in this test, but did meet label standards for extra virgin.
In markets like New Zealand and Australia where this type of product investigation is often used to promote or undermine oils from various sources, independence of the testing is critical. In this case the Choice report was based on sensory evaluation by an IOC accredited panel, and testing by the NSW Government Department of Industry & Investment’s IOC-accredited Olive Oil Testing Service at Wagga Wagga.
Graham Aitken of William Aitken & Co, Lupi’s New Zealand importers, said he was in no position to comment on the Australian situation, but that as far as his company was concerned, “We make sure we are getting absolutely the best quality from Lupi and we pay accordingly.”
He added the samples from New Zealand are frequently sent by his company to independent European laboratories for testing, and “… invariably they come back certified as extra virgin under IOC standards”.
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