Many of you have either seen or heard of the adulterated olive oil segment that aired on 60 Minutes earlier this month. If you haven’t seen it yet, you can follow this link below link to watch it: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-overtime-how-to-buy-olive-oil/
The expose talks about adulterated Italian food in general, but also features a long segment, including an interview with Tom Mueller, author of “Extra Virginity” and the blog “Truth in Olive Oil”, on the adulteration of extra virgin olive oil in Italy and the United States. During the interview, Tom mentions that upwards of 80% of the extra virgin olive oil sold in the US is adulterated or mis-branded.
The UC Davis study revealed this river of adulterated/mis-branded product years ago. The New Yorker also ran stories about this epidemic. The New York Times has written about this and Time Magazine has also done stories recently. To put it bluntly, this is no new news.
The UP (Ultra Premium) Certification Program remains the highest published standard for extra virgin olive oil in the world. The Ultra Premium (UP) Logo indicates that not only does the olive oil meet the current worldwide standards for Extra Virgin Olive Oil, but it also must pass a much more rigorous set of chemical, sensory, storage, production, and compliance requirements. These requirements have been developed into a Private Specification representing a compilation of industry standards, best practices, and proprietary methods for achieving the highest level of quality. This specification encompasses the entire life-cycle process of an olive oil from tree to table. Beginning with the farmer and ending with the sale of a bottle to a customer, the UP Specification defines the best practices which must be followed to obtain an olive oil worthy of the UP Standard…the new highest standard for olive oil in the world. All of the olive oils you purchase at The Bodacious Olive and on its website carry this UP Standard.