Know Thy Importer
I’m guessing you believe that bottle of extra virgin olive oil you bought recently in the supermarket is exactly what it says on the label. Otherwise, why would you buy it?
Sadly, it may not be as labelled. The scam that is the world of extravirgin olive oil is one of the greatest, and most profitable in the food world, with profit margins comparable to those of selling cocaine, according to one EU anti-fraud investigator. By substituting lesser grades of olive oil and even oils derived from nuts and seeds, major international olive oil export businesses will sell you extra-virgin, when it’s something else entirely in the bottle.
“Olive oil is one of the most frequently adulterated food products in the EU; within Europe, the problem is particularly acute in Italy, the leading importer, consumer and exporter of olive oil and the hub of the world olive oil trade,” wrote American journalist Tom Mueller in his book Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil, published in 2012. “Many olive oil scams involve straightforward mixing of low-grade vegetable oils, flavoured and coloured with plant extracts and sold in tins and bottles emblazoned with Italian flags or paintings of Mount Vesuvius, together with the folksy names of imaginary producers.”
Following publication of an initial article in The New Yorker by Mueller, subsequently developed into this book, there were high hopes in the industry that such public and detailed exposure of the myriad ways to adulterate olive oil might be the catalyst for reform. But many of the major brands commonly available worldwide continue to sell oil that does not meet the stringent requirements to be classed as extra-virgin, or even pure olive oil, for that matter. Little, if anything, has improved, says Elizabeth Kilvert, owner of The Unrefined Olive. “It’s the same people in the business,” she sighs, “so really not much has changed.”
Kilvert acknowledges that it’s an industry plagued with problems. But in the way that consumers are becoming increasingly interested in farm-to-table and their ability to trace the source of the food they consume, the same applies to olive oil. “More and more consumers are asking for transparency,” Kilvert says.
Transparency is what Kris Giannakos of Ilias and Sons endeavours to provide. Giannakos imports oil made by his father in Greece, edibleottawa.co 23 from trees grown on their farm, which has been in the family for five generations. There’s no middleman. “We try not to focus on the corruption of the olive oil industry,” Giannakos says, “because nobody else touches our olive oil. We bring it over in small tins — just 17 litres — and this allows us to control every aspect of it. We want our customers to know exactly what they are getting.” Ilias and Sons supplies oil to Terra 20, La Bottega and Pure Kitchen, among other clients in Ottawa. The company also produces a line of olive-oil soap products and infused oils, such as black garlic.
Back at The Unrefined Olive, education is key and customers are welcome to taste the products. Kilvert draws on her knowledge of olive oil as a qualified oleologist — basically an olive-oil sommelier — to guide customers towards their preferred taste in extra-virgin olive oil. “Oil can be fruity, bitter, creamy, rich, peppery,” she explains, “and it should never be musty. We provide you with the knowledge so you can safeguard your choices of oil.”
While customer education is paramount, Kilvert also chooses and stores the oils she sells carefully to ensure optimum quality. None is more than a year old and all are tested by a third party independent laboratory to guarantee they are premium extra-virgin olive oil, the highest designation. Visits to the New York International Olive Oil Competition — a juried panel evaluation that brings forward winning olive oils and producers — helps Kilvert to make her selections for the store. By buying from Europe, Australia, North and South America, she can stock oil fresh from the harvest in each hemisphere.
Aurelius Food Co. is another Ottawa olive oil business with family links directly to the groves. Owner Mike George has relatives in Italy and spent summers there as a child. A few years ago an uncle asked him if he could sell his extra virgin olive oil in Canada. “It was like a fire was lit in me,” says George, who spent the journey back to Canada sketching out a business plan.
At the time, George was in the military and had seen deployment to Afghanistan, Iraq and Bosnia, among other places. Initially, he brought more than 500 litres of extra-virgin olive oil in fivelitre cans as a test run. One the weekend, he sold it at markets and in pop-up stores, and through a lucky break, managed to get it into the hands of some of Ottawa’s top chefs. In 2018, after 12 years of service, he gave up his military career to open a store at 1283b Wellington St. W., selling high-quality oils and balsamic vinegars.
While the premium quality extra-virgin olive oil that launched George’s business is not made from olives grown on his uncle’s land, it is made from olives grown in Sacrofano, the village in which he lives, 30 kilometres north of Rome. All the olives are grown within 20 kilometres of the mill. They are not commercially farmed, they are harvested by hand and processed using old-world techniques. George’s uncle oversees the oil from the moment it is crushed, to the moment it begins its journey to Canada. While George acknowledges that you can never really trust anybody in this business, he’s confident in the 10-year relationship that his uncle has with the mill as well as his uncle’s oversight. “He’s the taster and he does the chemical testing,” explains George, referring to a basic acidity test, a direct indicator of quality. “We have a transparent relationship with the producer and that is exactly what I aim to do with my clients. It’s all about knowledge and I want to build something that is community-oriented and where customers understand the product they are buying.”
In 2018, George brought in 1,500 litres of this premium oil, which is used at Restaurant E18hteen, Riviera, North & Navy, Les Fougères and Art-Is-In Bakery, to name just a few. “At the recent Canada’s Great Kitchen Party, three of the 10 restaurants taking part used my oil,” he says, with a certain amount of pride. “I’m bringing in smallbatch, premium imports for critical foodies and elite chefs.”
Where there are huge amounts of money to be made, dubious people tend to get involved. Combined with the fact that the olive oil industry is highly politicized and has attracted plenty of flamboyant characters, Mueller has had to disassociate himself from olive oil due to threats to his family. And while his book may have cast Italy as the first sinner, he is clear that North America is not immune. “Everyone in the oil business in California, and in America, knows a fraud story, because everyone knows a fraudster,” he writes. Much of the fake olive oil is imported, but “large quantities of fake oil are also being mixed up on American soil, where fraudsters take advantage of the lax regulatory environment. In California, the hub for fraud is greater Los Angeles, where a number of companies are blending soy, seed oil or cotton-seed oil with low grade olive oil and selling it as extra-virgin.”
Sadly, much of that oil makes its way north to Canada. “In 1997, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency began testing retail olive oils for adulteration; since then, more than 20 per cent of the oils it has tested have proven to be fraudulent,” explained Mueller. According to a CFIA spokesperson, testing is ongoing, randomly across the industry in Canada, and targeted when an oil is new to the market, there is a history of non-compliance or the oil seems unreasonably inexpensive. The CFIA paid a visit to George at Aurelius Food Co. while he was preparing to open his store. His products passed with flying colours.
In December 2017, Simon & Nolan, a Laval-based importer claiming to sell “Canada’s finest and best edible oils and vinegars,” was convicted of selling “extra-virgin olive oil, 100 per cent pure olive oil and 100 per cent pure grapeseed oil in a manner that is false, misleading or deceptive, or likely to create an erroneous impression regarding its nature, value, composition and merit,” according to the CFIA. The company was fined $20,000 and products destroyed. But in February of 2018, olive-oil products from the same company were again found to be non-compliant, with inaccurate or misleading labelling.
While you might think that price would be an indication of quality, it does not guarantee that high-priced oils have not been adulterated. The reverse is true, however. If your so-called extra-virgin olive oil is just $10 a litre, you really should question what it is, exactly, you are buying. At The Unrefined Olive, Kilvert prices her oils by volume, and 200 milletres, the smallest bottle she sells, costs $15, while 250 millilitres of Aurelius Food Co. Early Harvest Extra Virgin is $18.
“The most important thing is consumer education,” Kilvert says, “because this is how you safeguard your purchase.” Caveat Emptor.
Aurelius Food Co.
1283b Wellington St W, Ottawa, Ont.
aureliusfoodco.com | 613.421.2512 | @aureliusfoodco
Ilias and Sons
iliasandsons.com | @iliasandsons
The Unrefined Olive
151-A Second Ave., Ottawa, Ont.| 613.231.3133 499 Terry Fox Dr., Kanata, Ont. | 613.592.4500
unrefinedolive.com | @theunrefinedolive
