Importers Take Australia’s Olive Oil Ads to the ACCC

Australian olive oil is at the center of a public row: the growers’ association has launched a $300,000 campaign saying local oil is “fresher, tastier and better for you” than most imports, and the importers have complained to the competition regulator that the ads are misleading. Both sides are citing the same national standard. Here is what each side claims, what the tests say, and how a shopper can tell who has a point.

What started it

The Australian Olive Association (AOA), which represents local growers, launched its #buyaussieoliveoil campaign last week, fronted by the dietitian Joanna McMillan. Its CEO, Lisa Rowntree, told ABC Rural that up to nine in ten imported olive oils fail the Australian standard and are labeled incorrectly. The AOA’s figures come from tests carried out between September 2011 and August 2013 on 106 imported oils from 40 brands: it says 93 percent of those brands had at least one product that failed AS 5264-2011, the Australian olive oil standard.

The standard is voluntary. Rowntree says local growers almost all meet it, importers mostly choose not to, and she would like it made mandatory. She also says 47 percent of the olive oil imported into Australia is refined, while more than 90 percent of Australian production is extra virgin.

The importers’ answer

The Australian Olive Oil Association (AOOA), made up mostly of importers along with some local growers, has lodged a complaint with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. Its president, David Valmorbida, says the campaign uses scare tactics and misleading information to push retailers and the government toward a standard that the International Olive Council rejected.

“There are two sides to the story and ideally an industry wouldn’t have two sides,” Valmorbida said. Rowntree’s reply is that the AOA has been sharing its raw test data with the ACCC for years and would happily walk the regulator through it. The campaign, she says, is not about keeping importers out, since Australia cannot yet replace its imports, but about truth in labeling, including refined oil sold as “pure”, “light” or “extra light” instead of being called refined olive oil.

Why this fight keeps coming back

This is not new. Two years ago the growers took on the big supermarket chains over labeling, and in June an importer paid ACCC infringement notices over a so-called extra virgin oil that was mostly canola. The local industry is young, it has planted heavily, and it has to sell against cheaper Mediterranean oil in a market that has no mandatory grade standard. Every test result becomes ammunition.

• “Light” and “extra light” describe flavor and color, not calories; the oil is refined.
• A voluntary standard only protects buyers when the label says the oil meets it.
• If the ACCC acts on the complaint, both sides’ claims will finally be tested by someone neutral.

Sources

• ABC Rural: Olive oils not meeting Australian standard (December 2, 2013, archived)
• news.com.au: Olive oil importers take Australian association ad to ACCC (December 2013, archived)
• Olive Oil Times: Importers Accuse Australian Group of Making False Claims (December 9, 2013)