Team:UC Davis/Policy Practices Overview

Olive oil fraud is an issue that affects many stakeholders, from consumers to olive growers. Developing effective methods for quality control, and understanding stakeholder needs is critical to solving this problem. We set aside our research several times throughout the summer to explore stakeholder needs and to better understand quality issues in the olive oil industry on a practical level. This led us to attend a public hearing at the State Capitol on the topic of new California standards, to understand demand for quality control amongst multiple groups of stakeholders. We also met with producers and millers at their production facilities to garner their perspective on how a biosensor could meet their respective needs. Lastly, to discover if the public would change buying habits in response to accessible quality control, we conducted several olive oil tastings at a local grocer and collected data. We synthesized our understanding of stakeholder needs in our final summary.

Throughout the summer we met with representatives from the largest producers of extra virgin olive oil in California: California Olive Ranch, Corto Olive Company, and Seka Hills Olive Company. We were able to tour their production facilities, and discuss the interests producers have in better quality control methods. We learned that if the olives are mishandled or the oil is stored improperly, becoming exposed to light or heat, it is possible for the oil to lose health benefits, such as antioxidants and monounsaturated fats. When the oil loses those compounds associated with health, it is considered to be rancid.

Therefore, it is important for producers to be able to test their oil for compounds indicative of rancidity. They informed us of the lack of fast, efficient and easy-to-use tools available for them to make measurements of the chemical composition within their olive oil. They verified that measuring the concentrations of certain aldehydes would be indicative of whether or not the oil has, in fact, become rancid. They currently perform quality measurements using GC-MS, which is an expensive machine that can take up to three weeks to obtain results. If there was a simpler scientific system made available to these producers to measure certain indicators of rancidity, it could allow for more consistent standards for industry. Our visits to these producers encouraged us to build a device capable of detecting rancid chemicals, specifically aldehydes, in olive oil.

To learn more about the Olive Mill Visits click here.