USDA Starts Olive Oil Quality Monitoring, Pompeian Signs Up First
The US Department of Agriculture announced on Tuesday, April 3, that its fee-based Quality Monitoring Program now covers olive oil, and Pompeian, the Baltimore importer, is the first company in. Bottles of Pompeian extra virgin and organic extra virgin made under the program will carry a USDA logo from this month. Here is how the checks work, what they cost, and what the logo does and does not promise.
What happened
The Quality Monitoring Program is run by the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service. It started in 2008 and, according to Olive Oil Times, already covers about 90 commodities for fruit and vegetable suppliers. Olive oil is the newest addition, and it arrives at a time when the United States has grade standards for olive oil but no federal enforcement of them in the shops.
Pompeian describes itself as the country’s largest olive oil importer, handling more than 40,000 metric tons a year from the Mediterranean and South America. Its chief executive, David Bensadoun, called the move a big step for the industry and said he hopes other domestic and international producers will join. Charles Parrott, the acting deputy administrator of the USDA fruit and vegetable program, said bottles carrying the logo have passed the program’s criteria and that consumers want to know the products they buy are genuine.
How the checks work
Randy Macon, acting director of the USDA’s Processed Products Division, described the program to Olive Oil Times as a rigorous audit built around each industry’s needs. It runs in two phases:
- Entry. A detailed quality control questionnaire, an audit inside the plant, and sampling of two production lots. Both lots are graded with chemical tests and a flavor panel, and both must pass before the company signs a monitoring contract.
- Ongoing monitoring. Monthly checks, including unannounced visits, to confirm the company is following its own procedures. Samples go to the USDA laboratory in Blakely, Georgia, and are checked against the US Standards for Grades of Olive Oil and Olive-Pomace Oil.
The service is voluntary and the company pays. Neither side would disclose Pompeian’s bill, but the initial plant visit can take up to five days at a reported rate of $85 an hour, before laboratory costs. Agreements normally run for a year, with an exit clause if the company decides the service is not worth it. That price tag will keep many small producers out.
| Question | Quality Monitoring Program | USDA grading of each lot |
|---|---|---|
| What is checked | The company’s process, plus regular spot samples | Each lot, sampled heavily |
| Tests used | Chemistry and flavor panel | Chemistry and flavor panel |
| Cost to the company | Lower | Much higher, according to Pompeian |
| Companies signed up so far | One (Pompeian) | None yet, according to Pompeian |
Bensadoun told Olive Oil Times that Pompeian first asked to have its oil certified as US Extra Virgin under the full grading service, and found it very expensive. The USDA’s Chere Shorter, who led the work on the grade standards, said full grading would pull far more samples to reach 95 percent confidence for each lot. The monitoring program is a lighter, cheaper check.
Why it matters
American olive oil quality is a live fight. California producers are drafting a proposal for a federal marketing order with tougher standards, and importers want US rules aligned with those of the International Olive Council. Bensadoun framed Pompeian’s move as backing the existing voluntary USDA standard, which he would like to see made mandatory. However you read the politics, a government inspector turning up unannounced at a bottling plant is more than most bottles on American shelves can claim today.
If the grades themselves are a blur, The three grades of olive oil sets them out, and California tightens olive oil labeling rules covers the state rules that set off this argument.
What it means for buyers
The logo is a real check, and it is worth something. It is not a medal. It tells you the company’s oil was sampled and passed the extra virgin tests at the plant, and that USDA keeps looking. It does not tell you the oil is the best on the shelf, where the olives grew, or when they were picked. The best check is still your own palate; our guide to Tasting Olive Oil Blind: A Home Method takes ten minutes.
Every quality test is a snapshot of the oil on the day it was sampled. Extra virgin keeps aging after it leaves the plant, faster in clear glass, under shop lights and in a warm warehouse. A bottle that passed comfortably at the bottling line can taste flat a year later on a bright supermarket shelf. That is not fraud; it is time. So a seal on the label and a recent harvest date on the same bottle is the combination to look for.