I am pretty sure that Trader Joe's carries a Californian olive oil.

Personally, I would not worry too much about European olive oil. Their laws are often stricter on foods than ours. Oil from China would be a different matter though.

Bear in mind that the genetic modifications that people are concerned about involve breeding plants that can consistently be sprayed with glyphosate weed killer or contain a toxin in them called Bt (short for Bacillus thuringiensis, which is the name of the bacteria that has the toxin), which is lethal to boring insects. If I has to make an educated guess I would say that Bt is the more likely modification in olives, but I haven't heard of anything like that going on in Europe. From what I know I would say olives having those two modifications would be unlikely, but that doesn't mean they have no genetic modifications. That is something that really burns me up, because I am not opposed to genetically modified plants. Monsanto is correct in saying that plants modify themselves and have been modified by humans for centuries or longer. But harping on this fact obscures the facts about WHAT the plants are being modified to do. That's the crux that you have to find out. So far, most gmo's that are on the market are modified so that pesticides can be applied to them or so that they contain pesticide toxins IN them. However, even without genetic modifications, many modern crops are heavily treated with pesticides and do contain traces of lots of nasty stuff. I try to stay up on it and avoid the nastiest stuff, but organic labeling is no panacea. Best to know your sources and choose ones that are open to discussions about their growing practices.

But I have heard a lot about olive oil being adulterated with all kinds of things. In fact some guy wrote a book about it and they were interviewing him on NPR a couple of years ago. They use all kinds of chemicals to extract the oils from the olives, but that doesn't mean they are IN the olive oils. For that you'd have to do some research about what to look out for. But watch your sources for the research, anyone can say anything and put it on a Web page.

There was an olive oil scandal about five years back. Many of the imported olive oils that were labelled Extra Virgin Olive Oil were actually common olive oil, or a blend that was only a little EVOO. Others were actually cut with non-olive oils like canola. The fakes also might have perfumes (like the much discussed "truffle" oil, which has chemical scent (not truffles) added), and have other adjustments made with subprime fruits. Apparently, organized crime was behind a lot of it, and even the bottlers didn't always know they weren't getting the real thing.

There was talk in California for awhile about slapping a whole new grading system for all olive oils. Some of that smacked of protectionism, and more about promoting local oil than solving a real problem.

Europe is much stronger on food quality issues in general than we are. There has been very little GMO research in olives and I don't think any have been planted commercially. I read that the research that was done in Italy was halted and that it never got beyond the university level. If you were warned off GMO's, it might be in canola oil or similar that was used to fake EVOO. Olives don't have GMOs.

With the fraudulent EVOO, the scandal wasn't that it was harmful to eat, just that it wasn't the craft first pressing that people thought they were getting.

California grown/bottled EVOO is no guarantee, though the Italian supply was what was scandalously suspect. Trader Joe's has some that are good and has had some that were found to be "fake".

Here's a comprehensive article about buying olive oils.

One thing to remember about the kind of testing done to declare "fakes" at UC Davis is that it might not account for degradation of the oil if it is old or improperly stored. And none of that speaks to regular olive oil, just extra virgin.

Well, then if what pllog writes is true, and they were mixing olive oil with canola oil, then yes, you would have a crop that is genetically modified. If I'm not mistaken, canola (used to be called rapeseed) has been modified to be resistant to glyphosate (commercially called "Roundup"), and is therefore heavily sprayed with it in the US and so might contain residue's of glyphosate's byproducts in the oils. How much I don't know, but I am avoiding canola oil from now on unless it is organic. The amount of pesticide residue might be minimal to non-existent but since such things are not very well monitored or studied, and glyphosate and it's byproducts are something I want to seriously avoid ingesting, (not to mention the environmental damage heavy glyphosate use may cause), I stay away from it.

I don't know about the practices in Europe. I know they are not crazy about other pesticides but I don't know the regulations there on glyphosate. BTW, glyphosate is widely used around the world, I use it. I just think it should be used a whole lot more judiciously than it is. GMO's with that particular modification give you no choice, they are designed for regular applications of Roundup. Other genetic modifications may come up the pike, but this and BT are the current ones and they are the ones that concern me.

L has nicely covered all my problems with GMO and Monsanto in general, so I won't beat that particular horse here.

I get olive oil from Sciabica's in California, it tastes good, but it's a bit pricey, so I try to save the "good stuff" for things that aren't cooked, like dipping bread or making dressings. It's a family business and the elder Mr. Sciabica has called me a couple of times, to "be sure I didn't run out of olive oil". (grin) I know they also sell at farmer's markets in their area, and I'm a sucker for family farms, and I just can't resist Mr. Sciabica with his hand crocheted vests...

Other than that, I get whatever is on sale at the Mediterranean market, it usually comes in a large metal can, and I split it with my daughters so it gets used before it becomes rancid. I don't always buy extra virgin either, as the regular olive oil is often suitable for whatever I'm cooking.

Annie

This post was edited by annie1992 on Thu, Jan 22, 15 at 0:20

There is NO worry with European olive oil. Whether or not you are actually getting our oil is another question. It's just very common, ordinary stuff for us. I would suggest that if you can buy American oil, then on an ecological basis, you should. Why transport oil round the globe? Daft!

You have to be wary of how much is real and how much is hype in order for US olive growers to gain shelter from market competition. If anything, Europe has been far stricter on the use of GMOs than has the US, home to Monsanto, et al.

Here's an article on US v Europe olives

Here is a link that might be useful: Olive oil

Oh yes, some of the olive oil stuff may be hype, to sell books, blogs or whatever. On the flip side, some "organic" and "pure, all natural, family farm, local" etc. may also be hype. Caveat emptor, "Let the buyer beware." I buy whatever is on sale at the store and save the EVOO for special. I use the "not virgin" olive oil for most things now except Asian cooking. I'm gonna have to investigate what I'm buying someday, but since I am moving right now, it's not going to be soon! I find out the coolest things on the CF!!

One claim I heard recently is that in Europe something called Extra Virgin Olive Oil must meet certain specific criteria for it to be sold in Europe. However since there is little to no regulation on "Olive Oil" that is shipped to the United States, some Olive Oil producers will take oil that wouldn't pass muster for sale in Europe and ship it to us.

But as Annie points out I don't know whether this claim is real or is hype from Us Olive growers.

Totally cool about the rise in California olive oils. I would be all over them if I could afford to. As for importing though, how much further is it from Europe to PA than CA to PA?? Might kind of be a wash. :)

Not sure if this helps but...

I get good quality Italian olive oil and pomice oil from an Italian shop. Tenutas in Kenosha, Wi. I'm only out that way once or twice a year to visit family, so I pick it up when I'm there- they have a huge selection of oils that are not online. http://www.tenutasdeli.com/tek9.asp?pg=products&grp=71
You could try finding a local shop like this one.

For an online source of 100% pure U.S. goods, I love these guys. http://www.olivecart.com/
Their oil is all out of California, and the flavorings they use are all locally sourced, or as close to local as they can get. So for EVOO, it will be 100% pure CA EVOO. I can say with experience their oil is very good- the butter and truffle oils are extra tasty.

Thanks to all. To me, "hype" is just plain lying. The way this world is going, you never know whether anybody is telling you the truth anymore. Corporate ethics are going by th wayside. Appreciate all of the comments. Barb

Barb, now that we've covered the GMO's pretty thoroughly, a word about olive oil:

There are four basic kinds of olive oil:
Extra Virgin
Virgin
Olive oil (regular)
Light (or Lite)

Extra Virgin is often referred to as "fruit juice". It is the first cold pressing (mechanical only) and lowest in acidity. It has high nutrient levels, which is what the testers were looking for. It should be in a very dark bottle as exposure to light degrades these. It also is supposed to have "no flavor defects". It will have a terroir, the way wine does, and taste of where it's grown.

That's a big reason for importing. Spanish EVOO tastes different from Italian and both are different from California. EVOO, therefore, should be estate grown, that is identify that the olives were grown on a particular farm. There are makers of EVOO which is perfectly fine, but is made from olives bought here and there. Like a blended wine, these taste of the brand rather than the land.

Virgin olive oil is also first cold pressing but has a higher allowable acidity. The rules say up to 3%, but most aim for no more than 2%.

Because of the flavors, antioxidants, and solids, EVOO and Virgin are not appropriate for cooking with any amount of heat. They're also expensive to use that way. The smoke point of EVOO can be as low as 320° F, and before it smokes it'll go off in taste. It's best used as a finishing flavor or in dressings and other cold items. It can also be combined with other ingredients before heating, as a flavoring, and be fairly well protected by them, but this is about flavor and isn't in any way a scientific claim. Virgin has a smoke point between 375-390°';, though some say as high as 420°. It's okay for cooking that doesn't get too hot, but has a different profile to EVOO.

Fino, Puro, or "regular" olive oil is refined, not acidic, and more versitile. It's a combination of oils extracted by other means than pressing and some EVOO for flavor. It's smoke point is variable due the amount of solids that may have been added in, but it should be at least 425°. It is considered the best kind of oil for sautéing and similar cooking uses. The reason it is, however, is that it doesn't have many of those lovely nutrients that are in EVOO.

Lite olive oil is highly refined and light in flavor and color. Its smoke point is over 450° and it is appropriate for all kinds of cooking. It's a stable, neutral oil, and great for when you don't want your food to taste olive-y.

There's also something called olive pumace oil, which is made from the leavings of that first cold pressing. Its smoke point is even higher, depending on whether EVOO has been added, and how much. I think it's used more commercially.

Re cooking with fats:

Recent claims have been made that you can use EVOO at much higher temperatures than are commonly accepted without damaging it. I haven't seen any kind of study to back that up. Similarly, there are claims that unlike other vegetable oils, olive oil is stable at heat, but I haven't seen any science (not even bad science) ascribed to the claim. These are mostly traceable to people selling olive oil. There are university studies, however, that show that animal fats are better for frying and other high heat uses than any vegetable oil because they don't degrade at heat. I don't know if these results are one of those laboratory things that aren't applicable to the real world, or if there's something important there.

Just FYI.