Olive oil surveillance program welcomed by Charlottetown business

A Charlottetown olive oil shopowner says he is happy the federal government will be doing a new testing program to monitor the quality of olive oil coming into Canada

A bad olive harvest in parts of Europe could trigger anincrease in olive oil fraud, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is warning. The agency said last week it plans to send out inspectorsin a 12-month national investigation starting in April, tosample oils.

However,a similar testing program by the CFIA two years ago turned up no cases of olive oil fraud in Canada.

Aline Dimitri, the deputy chief food safety officer at the CFIA,said based on the studies it has done, the problem is very small.

"The challenge is that sometimes, the international landscape changes. There might be concerns around international activitiesand we want to make sure that this is not translatinginto a problem on the Canadian market," she said.

According to an email from theNorth American Olive Oil Association (NAOOA), its testing found that "98 per cent of olive oil sold in U.S. retail outlets is authentic."

Testing 'a good thing'

Bill McArthur and his wife own Liquid Gold Olive Oils and VinegarsCharlottetown, said theywelcomethe testing.

"If they do anything to try and remove bad oils, adulterated oils from store shelves, it's a good thing," he said.

"We've heard it for all the years we've been in business olive oil fraud, adulteration, has been a part of this business since 1,000 years before Christ," he said. "There's always been people who try to take bad oil and fob it off as good oil, it's just getting more sophisticated."

"Bad"oil is not extra-virgin olive oil it is sometimes olive oil cut with cheaper soy, hazelnut, canola or older or poorly-made olive oil, McArthur said

"We welcome every initiative they can bring to make the consumer experience a lot more trustworthy, a lot more honest," McArthur said.

'Barely recognize the difference'

McArthur said he doesn't believe his business will suffer as a result ofthe bad harvest because he sources his oils from around the world, not just Europe. The NAOOA says while Italy has had some challenging years, Spain had a very good production year.

"When you can buy like we do from both hemispheres, we can avoid countries that are having bad years and buy from countries that are having good years," said McArthur.

He said his companyalready relies on testing at the farm gate, and again at a North American lab.

"The best test is what you do inside the store when you taste what a really goodextra-virgin olive oil is supposed to be, it's unmistakable."

SylvainCharlebois, a professor atDalhousie University who researches food distribution and policy saidconsumers should bevigilant andpoints to price and taste as being good indicators in knowing how to spot unadulteratedolive oil.

"You should expect to pay more than $15for half a litre. If you're paying less, be suspicious." The NAOOAagrees consumers should be suspicious of low prices, but only relative to other olive oil brands. The organization says there are quality olive oils at different price points.

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