NEW STUDY: 89% of “Avocado Oil” Foods Use Fake or Adulterated Avocado Oil
The vast majority of chips, salad dressings, and mayonnaise labeled as containing avocado oil showed fatty-acid and sterol profiles inconsistent with authentic avocado oil.
A newly published study out of UC Davis has uncovered a stunning problem hiding inside foods marketed as being made with avocado oil: 89% of avocado-oil-labeled products tested had chemical profiles inconsistent with authentic avocado oil. They analyzed oils extracted from 74 commercially sold chips, salad dressings, and mayonnaise products labeled as containing avocado or olive oil, using fatty-acid and sterol markers referenced against Codex Alimentarius standards.
The results were especially striking for avocado oil. Among avocado-oil-labeled products, 93% of chip samples failed authenticity criteria, 100% of salad dressings failed, and 71% of mayonnaise samples failed. In total, just 6 of 54 avocado-oil-labeled samples were classified as compositionally consistent with authentic avocado oil.
The product identities below come from the UC Davis-linked product list corresponding to the study’s numbered samples. Each product was represented by two separately purchased lots. For readability, I label lots that were compositionally consistent with authentic avocado oil as REAL AVOCADO OIL and lots that were compositionally inconsistent as ADULTERATED:
Boulder Canyon — Avocado Oil Classic Sea Salt Kettle Style Potato Chips: ADULTERATED — both lots
Lesser Evil — Moonions Intergalactic Onion Made with Organic Avocado Oil: 1 REAL / 1 ADULTERATED
Simply Tostitos — Sea Salt & Avocado Oil Tortilla Chips: 1 REAL / 1 ADULTERATED
Siete — Kettle Cooked Sea Salt Potato Chips Made with Avocado Oil: ADULTERATED — both lots
Siete — Maiz Sea Salt Corn Tortilla Chips Made with Avocado Oil: ADULTERATED — both lots
Kettle Brand — Sea Salt with a Hint of Pink Peppercorn Chips Made with Avocado Oil: ADULTERATED — both lots
Kettle Brand — Apple Cider Vinegar Chips Made with Avocado Oil: ADULTERATED — both lots
Jackson’s — Avocado Oil Sweet Potato Chips: ADULTERATED — both lots
Jackson’s — Kettle Cooked Sea Salt Potato Chips Only with Avocado Oil: ADULTERATED — both lots
Sprouts — Organic Sea Salt & A Hint of Lime Tortilla Chips Made with Avocado Oil: ADULTERATED — both lots
Sprouts — Kettle Style Potato Chips Made with 100% Avocado Oil Sea Salt: ADULTERATED — both lots
Sensible Portions — Garden Veggie Straws Made with Avocado Oil Sea Salt: ADULTERATED — both lots
Bettergoods — Hatch Chile Tortilla Chips Fried in 100% Avocado Oil: ADULTERATED — both lots
Good Health — Kettle Style Avocado Oil Potato Chips Sea Salt: ADULTERATED — both lots
Sprouts — Balsamic Vinaigrette with Avocado Oil: ADULTERATED — both lots
Primal Kitchen — Avocado Oil & Vinegar Vinaigrette & Marinade: ADULTERATED — both lots
Primal Kitchen — Italian Dressing & Marinade Made with Avocado Oil: ADULTERATED — both lots
Chosen Foods — Lemon Garlic Dressing & Marinade Made with 100% Pure Avocado Oil: ADULTERATED — both lots
Chosen Foods — Zesty Italian Dressing & Marinade Made with 100% Pure Avocado Oil: ADULTERATED — both lots
Briannas — Classic Balsamic Vinaigrette Made with 100% Avocado Oil: ADULTERATED — both lots
Chosen Foods — Vegan Mayo Made with 100% Pure Avocado Oil: ADULTERATED — both lots
Chosen Foods — Classic Mayo Made with 100% Pure Avocado Oil: ADULTERATED — both lots
Primal Kitchen — Real Mayonnaise Made with Avocado Oil: ADULTERATED — both lots
Sir Kensington’s — Avocado Oil Mayonnaise: ADULTERATED — both lots
BetterBody Foods — 100% Avocado Oil Mayo: ADULTERATED — both lots
Grove AvoYeah! — Mayo Sauce Made with Avocado Oil: REAL AVOCADO OIL — both lots
Grove AvoYeah! — Garlic Aioli Sauce Made with Avocado Oil: REAL AVOCADO OIL — both lots
The study physically extracted the oils from the finished foods and analyzed their fatty-acid and sterol composition using gas chromatography with flame-ionization detection (GC-FID). Many avocado-oil products showed profiles inconsistent with authentic avocado oil, including low palmitic and palmitoleic acids and elevated sterol markers associated with other vegetable oils. The authors said these patterns were consistent with substitution or dilution with vegetable oils.
One sample was particularly remarkable: its fatty-acid profile contained 52.5% linoleic acid and 6.5% alpha-linolenic acid, while oleic acid was only 24.8%—a pattern investigators said was consistent with soybean oil composition. Many other avocado-oil-labeled samples clustered chemically near comparator products containing canola, corn, soybean, and/or sunflower oils rather than authentic avocado oil.
The contrast with olive oil was dramatic. 90% of olive-oil chip samples and 100% of the olive-oil salad dressings and mayonnaise samples were classified as consistent with authentic olive oil. The authors noted that olive oil has more established standards and considerably more developed regulatory oversight than avocado oil.
Those paying a premium for processed foods prominently marketed as containing avocado oil appear to have been seriously duped.
Epidemiologist and Foundation Administrator, McCullough Foundation
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I guess our labeling laws are completely worthless....? I'm tempted to gather a bunch of my receipts for a couple of these items and send copies to the company demanding a refund for their falsely labeled junk. SMDH
It would be good to also publish the products that met the standard. That would be giving kudos to those companies that do go by what they say.