Extra virginity in question - olive oil in the news
Date: 13 Feb 2012
Olive Oil on Radio New Zealand's National programme
Two interviews by Simon Morton, covering the subject of the authenticity and quality of olive oils were broadcast recently on Radio NZ's This Way Up.
Morton's first interview was with Tom Mueller, American author of 'Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil'.
According to New Yorker contributor Mueller, many of the bottles labeled "extra-virgin olive oil" on supermarket shelves have been adulterated and shouldn't be classified as extra-virgin.
His new book chronicles how resellers have added lower-priced, lower-grade oils and artificial coloring to extra-virgin olive oil, before passing the new adulterated substance along the supply chain.
The Italian fraud squad recently announced they were investigating allegations that the country's largest olive oil producers have adulterated Italian oil with cheaper imports from Spain, Greece, Morocco and Tunisia.
In the second interview, NZ Olive Oil, Morton asks how easy is it to find fresh, good quality, extra virgin olive oil in New Zealand? His subject is local oils and fats expert Dr Laurence Eyres, Chairman of the Oils and Fats Specialist Group of the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry.
Both interviews are now available as podcasts on the website of The Oils & Fats Specialist Group of the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry:
www.oilsfats.org.nz/news.htm
