Is your olive oil the real thing?

The Health Ministry is catching fake olive oil products.

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
utensils 58 (photo credit: Courtesy)
utensils 58
(photo credit: Courtesy)
The omelette you are making may have been fried in counterfeit olive oil, according to the Health Ministry, which is conducting a campaign to catch producers of adulterated oil products and those lacking olive oil entirely.
Olive oil is required to be 100-percent pure and without artificial coloring or other additives.
Inspectors at the ministry’s National Food Service have taken samples of bottled “olive oil” and tested them in its labs and those of the Israel Standards Institution. As genuine olive oil is much more expensive than cheap vegetable oils, the potential profit for cheaters is huge.
These products were found not to meet standards for olive oil: • Baladi Olive Oil from Bayit Tov- Beit Yitzhak, owned by Yitzhak Azrad Ltd; the ministry said this is not manufactured by the food company at Kibbutz Beit Yitzhak.
• Shemen Tov Har Halutz, produced and marketed by Kibushei Aviv, Ilabon industrial zone.
• Yisraeli Pressed Olive Oil, produced for Li-Ad Ltd., Elad.
• Jerusalem 100% Pressed Olive Oil, packaged and marketed by Ta’am Hazayit Ltd, Kfar Saba.
• Hamelech Pressed Olive Oil, produced and marketed by the Suleiman Brothers, Kafr Magar.
• Aretzeinu Pressed Olive Oil, with no manufacturer’s name or address, marked “Kfar Saba Rabbinate supervision.”
• Nihoah Hazayit, Outstanding Pressed Olive Oil, imported by S.N.L., Nazareth, imported from Turkey.
These establishments are currently being investigated, and more samples are being tested, the ministry said.