Consumers used 79 million gallons of olive oil and spent about $720 million on the product in 2008.
Some are critical that the new standards do not provide enough protection, as reported in the LA Times. Bob Bauer, president of the North American Olive Oil Assn., has petitioned the FDA to create a "standard of identity, which would define in black and white what olive oil is and is not." Bauer also stated that only 3-4% of the olive oil samples tested by his group each year are adulterated or mislabeled.
States like California, Oregon, and Connecticut, have passed their own regulations which establish definitions for grades and require the oils to be labeled according to international standards.
The standards set by USDA are "scientifically verifiable" and provide "specific chemical parameters of purity and freshness that will provide a basis for enforcement" according to USA Today.
To read the USDA Standards, click here.
To read the LA Times story, click here.
To read the USA Today story, click here.
Posted: 07/08/2010
