Further clarification from Filippo Berio: Dear Bill, The labelling standards for Extra Virgin Olive Oil in particular are not that "weak". That term is closely defined by the International Olive Oil Council, and most of the major players in the industry subscribe to the IOOC International Monitoring Agreement and standards. Only about 1% of any olive oil harvest qualifies to be labelled Extra Virgin. There is a full chemical analysis profile that the oil must meet naturally without any type of corrective processing, the most significant factor of which is the percentage of oleic acid, which must be at or below 0.8%--this alone will knock a lot of oils out of contention. In addition, there are "organoleptic" (sensory) standards, for aroma and flavor characteristics, which are judged by panels of IOOC-certified tasters (SALOV S.p.A., the parent company of Filippo Berio, has 5 certified tasters on staff). In the USA, the North American Olive Oil Association works tirelessly to ensure compliance to labelling standards and to quality standards. Their Quality Control committee has a random-testing program that collects samples of all varieties of olive oils right from the store shelves and has them analyzed by an expert olive oil chemist. In addition, they follow up on any allegations or suspicions of impurities that are reported to them. In general, people are quick to believe the worst of any industry. Something that we as consumers should keep in mind is that cheating is a penny-wise, pound-foolish thing for most industry players to try--and the larger and more well-established a company's business is, the more they have to lose if they're caught cutting corners. In every industry, there are some "bottom feeders", smaller companies who make their sales on the basis of price alone, rather than quality. This is the segment where you are likely to find corner-cutting and cheating going on. The olive oil industry is not without its share of these. Every few years, news will break of discovery of adulterated olive oil, that has been mixed with some cheaper type of oil. This is most likely to happen at times when the cost of olive oil is high, due to harvest and market factors--for companies that sell only on price, that's when the temptation kicks in. Here's something else for you to consider: That simply isn't something that applies to the major players in the industry, or any of the companies that is known for quality. How can I say that? Because even in the best of years when olive oil prices are at their lowest, olive oil is *always* more expensive than other edible oils. People do not buy olive oil because it is a cheap cooking oil; they buy it for either the flavor characteristics or the health benefits (or both). And the statistics show that there is *not* a significant fall-off in our customer base in years when our prices are high. Yes, we do lose a few of the people who are are on limited incomes, but the majority of our consumers continue to buy the product even though the price fluctuates, because they want our quality. With this type of buying pattern, which is true for all the reputable major brands, there is no temptation to cheat; our consumers will pay for our quality. Not to mention that any of the established companies that got caught cheating would have a *tremendous* amount to lose!! It's a competitive business, and there's a lot of monitoring of competitors' products going on all the time, too--all the major companies have in-house laboratories, which have the triple purpose of monitoring all oils that will be used in the company's brand to ensure their purity, performing analysis of the company's items for which there is a quality-related complaint, and, frankly, analyzing competitors' products for a variety of reasons. People are slow to believe in a company's integrity per se--it always sounds like just so much PR hype to make statements about tradition and quality standards--but, for the cynics, it's a fact that a company's reputation for quality and integrity is one of its most valuable assets, in the literal sense of translating to dollars and cents. I hear frequently from consumers who tell me that Filippo Berio has been the only brand their family has used for 3 or more generations. Hope this helps give you a larger perspective on it.... Andrea
