Slick Extra Virgin

Most producers of extra virgin olive oil provide nutritional and other information on their labels. Here’s my attempt at deciphering what it all means.

I’ve used a label off an Australian supermarket extra virgin olive oil as an example. Australian oil labels tend to provide lots of detail as to what is in the bottle, so most of the stuff you find on them, you’ll also find on labels elsewhere.

The first figure shows the nutrition panel while the second gives the label in its entirety. Below are the explanatory notes relating to the number codes given on the figures.

1.    Energy values: Better known to most of us as calories. All olive oils including extra virgin and the refined ‘pure’, ‘light’ and ‘olive oil’ have pretty well the same energy (calorific) values. The marketing term ‘light’ refers to the oils colour and taste, NOT its calorific value.

2.    Olive oil does not contain any protein, carbohydrates, sugar or salt (Sodium). This is not surprising really as none of these things are soluble in oil. These things are mentioned on labels either to inform the consumer (fair enough)or because it is a legal labeling requirement (or both). EVOO’s do contain trace amounts of cholesterol but as the levels are so low, they are rarely mentioned on labels.

3.    Total Fat: All olive oils comprise essentially 99.9% fat. 100mls of olive oil weighs about 91.5 grams. But remember that there are good fats and there are bad fats.

4.    Saturated Fat: The lower the better.  All edible fats including olive oil contain some saturated fat. Olive oil has a comparatively low amount ranging from 7.3 to 33.3 gms/100mls with an average value of around 14 gms/100mls (2.1gms/15ml serving).

5.     Monounsaturated Fat: The higher the better. Olive oil is a very rich source of these heart healthy fats. The mono fat content in EVOO ranges from 50.6 to 79.8 gms/100mls with an average value of around 67 gms/100ml (10gms/15ml serving).

6.     Polyunsaturated Fat: The lower the better. Olive oils contain low levels of these fats relative to many other edible oils. While they are pretty healthy fats, they are oxidise easily which means that their presence aids in reducing the shelf life of the oil. So on balance, the lower the polyunsaturated fats the better. Olive oils contain between 3.2 to 20.1 gms/100mls with an average of around 10 gms/100ml (1.5gms/15ml serving).

7.     Trans fats: Extra virgin olive oil naturally contain miniscule (and I stress miniscule) levels of trans fats. But to keep things in perspective, even at the levels reported on labels you would have to eat over 140 litres of EVOO (175 years worth of olive oil for the average American) to get the same amount of trans fat as eating a single serve of fast food French fries. Most oils contain far less than what even the labels say . Labels are pre-printed in their thousands, so producers often err on the conservative side i.e. overestimate things like this. But in many countries producers are allowed to claim zero trans fat if their oil falls below a 0.0buggerall% threshold.

8.   ‘Best by’ date: This is probably the most confusing and in some cases, meaningless of all labeling requirements as it depends on where the oil comes from and where it is being sold. But here goes.

European Union: The stated ‘best by’ date is 2 years after the date the oil was packed/bottled.  This means little as oils are often held in tank for years before they are blended and bottled. So the oil could be well on their way to rancidity even before it hits the supermarket shelf. So the ‘best by’ date is pretty meaningless. It really should change, but it won’t.

Other countries: From what I’ve seen, most of the larger producers outside the EU mostly follow the EU approach. When in Rome, do as the Romans do I suppose.

Australia: Producers that have signed up to the Australian industry code of conduct base their ‘best by’ date on an objective measure of the predicted longevity of the oil called the rancimat test.

An alternative approach to stating ‘best by’ dates is to simply state the year, or year and month that the oil was extracted on the label. This approach is mostly taken by smaller producers. Even if this detailed information is provided, it is still impossible to predict how well the oil inside the bottle will last as the natural variability in the chemistry of EVOO’s determines their shelf life. However, most oils will last the 12 months required before the following seasons oils are released provided they are stored in a cool dark place.

9.     Product of Whatever Country:  Something so simple should be simple, but it isn’t

European Union: From July 2009 (and not about time I must add!!), olive oil originating from just one country will have to be labelled with the country of origin. Blends will be labelled either as “blend of European Community olive oils”, “blend of non-EU olive oils” or “blend of EU and non-EU olive oils”. Up until that date, the country of origin could have simply been where the oil was blended or packed, which allowed zillions of litres of Spanish or North African oil to be labelled as Product of Italy. I must say that even one year after the new law came into effect I haven’t seen a single EU oil on my antipodean local supermarket shelf labelled in accordance with this new law. Old stock perhaps?

Australia (and New Zealand): Oil labeled “Product (or produce) of Australia” must have been made from Australian olives and it must have been produced in an Australian mill. The same applies to oils labeled as Product of New Zealand.

The US: Who knows? I’ve seen Californian maps and references to California splashed all over the front label, but printed in 2pt font on the back is the enlightening “Product of the Mediterranean”. Stuff like this must drive the hard working legitimate local producers insane!! The new USDA olive oil standards do not as popularly assumed address labeling issues – even basic ones like knowing where the oil you are buying actually comes from. So read those back labels carefully. I follow the general rule, that if the statement of origin is even slightly ambiguous I move on to something else.

11.     Contact name and address of the producer: Maybe this appears to be a small thing, but it actually means a lot. It allows a real human being to take responsibility for what is in the bottle you just bought. Too often dodgey EVOO’s have not been able to be traced back to the actual person who is profiting from the fraud. Incidentally under Australian law it is mandatory for all food producers to put the name of a legal entity and a physical address on the label.

Other things you might encounter on an EVOO label sooner or later:

Free fatty acidity or acidity or FFA. The lower the better. Look for EVOO’s with FFA’s less than 0.25%. I’ve raved on incessantly about this in some of my other posts.

Polyphenol level: It is rare to see this stated on a label as they deciline over time. But some producers do give the level at bottling. Polyphenols are antioxidants. They are a healthy part of our diet and help the oil survive its year long journey in your kitchen. However it is worth noting that generally speaking, the higher the polyphenol level the more bitter and peppery the oil.  A polyphenols value of 500 mg/kg +indicates a pretty intense oil and less than 150 a pretty gentle sweet oil. You can read more about what effect polyphenols have on the taste of EVOO in Gawel and Rogers (2008), the authors version can be found here; http://www.aromadictionary.com/articles/oliveoilpolyphenolsandstyle.pdf

Lots of harmless bullshit: But heh, the world wouldn’t be as much fun without it, and it doesn’t hurt anyone most of the time.

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