This is NOT real olive oil (even if you’ve used it all your life without knowing it)
There’s a 73% chance that the olive oil you have in your kitchen right now isn’t really extra virgin. It is not an exaggeration or a phrase designed to scare: it is the result of real analyses carried out on the most consumed brands in supermarkets.
Stop for a second to think about that.
For years we believed we were cooking healthily, when in fact we could have been using rancid, oxidized, or fermented oil, without knowing it.
The study that uncovered the problem
The University of California at Davis analyzed some of the best-selling olive oil brands in common supermarkets. The result was overwhelming: almost three quarters did not meet the minimum quality standards required to be considered extra virgin olive oil.
Some oils tested had so many sensory and chemical defects that they were classified as “unfit for human consumption.”
We are not talking about small technical nuances, but about products that should not be in a kitchen, much less in a diet that is supposed to be healthy.
The Great Deception of the “Mild” Taste
One of the most serious problems is cultural.
Many people were taught that olive oil should be smooth, flat, and without character. But that’s the exact opposite of what defines an authentic extra virgin oil.
A good olive oil:
- It’s bitter
- It’s spicy
- It may make you cough lightly at the end
That itching isn’t a flaw: it’s a clear sign of active polyphenols, the compounds responsible for its antioxidant benefits.
If the oil is lifeless, stingy, and bitter, it is most likely degraded or fake.
“Imported from Italy”: an empty label
Origin also plays a key role in deception.
Several brands paid millionaire settlements — of up to seven million dollars — to place the phrase “Imported from Italy” on their bottles, when in fact the oil came from olives grown in Tunisia or Spain.
Legally possible, ethically questionable.
For the average consumer, that label creates a false sense of quality that guarantees absolutely nothing.
When oil is more suitable for furniture than for salads
In some cases, professional tasters claimed that certain oils tested were better suited for polishing furniture than for ingesting.
Still, they were on shelves, with attractive packaging and words like “extra virgin” printed large.
That 73% failure rate is not an accident, it’s part of the business model:
- Italian labels that mean nothing
- Mild flavors that hide oxidized oils
- Products that do not cause itching because they have already lost their active compounds
How Deception Really Works
The system is sustained because:
- Most people have never tasted real extra virgin olive oil
- Bitterness is associated with something “bad”
- The brand is trusted more than the taste
- No Harvest Date or Actual Origin Checked
Thus, millions of people cook every day with what is basically rancid fuel, believing that they are taking care of their health.
The conclusion that no one wants to hear
If the oil you use:
- It doesn’t itch
- Not bitter
- It has no intense aroma
- Not clearly indicated harvest date
Then it is very likely that it is not authentic extra virgin olive oil, even if you have used it all your life without suspecting it.
The good news is, once you taste the real olive oil, there’s no going back. The problem is that the market went to great lengths to never get to know it.
Because life is too short to ruin a salad with rancid oil disguised as healthy.
We invite you to view all the information in the following video from the Tasted & Tested channel:
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