Olive Oil - Real or Fake - Who Decides?

The evidence is overwhelming - Real extra virgin olivecheap refined oil. Mixed products have no quality
oil not only enhances the taste of food but is goodstated or implied, they are entirely price sensitive. So
for you, consider the following headlines:Olive oil 'actsthe distributor, broker, importer or retailer needs to
like painkiller' - BBC Mediterranean Diet Adds Years toconstantly offer either the cheapest product or be
Your Life (high intake of ... olive oil) - Oleic Acid Keyvery close to it for fear that at some point their
to Olive Oil's Anti-Cancer Effect -supply will disappear and they will be undersold due to
Reuters.comHowever, there is a dark side - fraud inthe market realities of working with this type of
the olive oil marketplace:Olive oil's slippery supply line -product.This is where the consumer gets cheated -
Extra Virgin Olive Oil - Are You Getting What Youthe labeling does not accurately reflect what is in the
Pay For? - ABC News 7Online "A clear case of fraudbottle. Take for example 'light olive oil' - what is 'light'
..... almost all of the virgin and extra virgin olive oilolive oil? Olive oil made from 'light' olives? Light olive oil
produced by large commercial Italian olive oil plants"is 95% pomace, canola or some other cheap oil
"of 73 olive oils ... in the U.S. Only 4 per cent weremixed in with 5% virgin olive oil. It stretches the
pure olive oil. The rest were adulterated" - New Yorkimagination to think that olive oil consumers demand
TimesThe health benefits of extra virgin olive oil onlythis type of product.B) Real extra virgin olive oil
apply to real extra virgin olive oil and not toobviously costs more to produce than the cheap,
fraudulently mislabeled products.As most olive oilmixed products. But olive oil consumers benefit
consumers know, the price of real extra virgin olivebecause they get what they pay for - the product.
oil has risen dramatically. At the same time the qualityReal extra virgin olive oil is always that - real extra
of the products being offered has deterioratedvirgin olive oil - the product, the quality does not
dramatically. Logic would dictate that a significantvary. Olive oil consumers always get what they want
percentage of olive oil consumers would prefer realand what they pay for - the flavor enhancing
extra virgin olive oil instead of the over-priced,attributes and all of the health benefits of real extra
mislabeled and adulterated products that havevirgin olive oil.It should be noted that due to current
flooded the market.However the olive oil consumer'smarket factors, the price difference between real
freedom to choose their product is limited to what isextra virgin olive oil and the cheap mixes has pretty
actually offered.much closed and in some cases is now inverted. Real
Food importers, distributors. brokers and retailersextra virgin olive oil being less expensive than the
essentially decide between two types of productscheap mixes.So, who gets to decide what olive oil
when it comes to the distribution of olive oil: A) Aconsumers consume?
cheap mixed product or B) Real extra virgin oliveWe believe that this decision belongs to the
oil:A) Mixed products have no guarantee of quality,consumer. Olive oil consumers should demand real
the paperwork may say 'extra virgin olive oil' butextra virgin olive oil.
what is in the bottle is pomace, canola or some other