This retail survey (open access) tested samples of chips (crisps), mayonnaises and salad dressing that claimed to be manufactured with either olive oil or avocado oil. Retail samples were purchased in California in 2025 and 2026. Because the authors had no access to the raw material specifications for each samples, they used the more generic FAME and sterol profile criteria from Codex Alimentarius Standard for Named Vegetable Oils and Olive Oil and Olive Pomace Oils (CXS 210-1999; CXS 33-1981) which are intended to encompass expected natural variability, and they also added an arbitrary 10% tolerance to account for confounding ingredients in the recipe and for processing changes. They also produced their own model chips and mayonnaise as controls.
They report that:
- Forty-eight out of 54 avocado oil-labelled products were inconsistent with authentic compositional ranges.
- One out of 20 olive oil-labelled products were inconsistent with authentic compositional ranges.
- Fatty acid and sterol profiles identified compositional deviations.
- Key fatty acid and sterol authenticity markers remained largely unchanged during laboratory frying and emulsification.
Photo by Emiliano Vittoriosi on Unsplash
Comments