American Consumption of Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) Rises, Moving the US to Third Place Worldwide

| December 28, 2011

Extra Virgin Olive Oil EVOO

Extra Virgin Olive Oil EVOO

Extra virgin olive oil has always been touted for its ability to do wonders for our health and culinary desires. Television personalities like Rachel Ray and her peers have long been featuring its use front and center, and in the process popularizing the almighty olive oil, elevating its reputation to the pantheon of all things great and wonderful. Households were introduced to the term EVOO, and American consumption in aggregate began to rise. In 2011, the US ranks as the third largest consumer of olive oil across the world.

Spain, Italy and Greece collectively produce over 70 percent of the world’s olive oil supply. American consumers naturally look to the Mediterranean for the best that in olive oil specimens, and often they pay a premium for what they perceive to be quality at its finest. Some have begun to question this blind faith in Mediterranean olive oil quality. This sentiment has been buttressed by recent studies that offer evidence that U.S. consumers often pay a premium for Euro olive oil classified as “extra virgin” when in fact, judged against internationally accepted standards for olive oil, they are buying inferior quality oil.

A recent U.S.-Australian report suggests a wide array of top-selling European “extra virgin” olive oils sold in California supermarkets “regularly” fail international standards for extra virgin. Per those standards, extra virgin olive oil is the highest grade and consequently is expected to deliver the best taste and the entire spectrum of health benefits ascribed to olive oil. Accordingly, it commands a premium over other, non-virgin olive oils. A University of California-Davis study notes that of the brands most commonly sold in U.S. supermarkets, 69 percent were flawed to the point that they should not have been classified as EVOO.

EVOO use in the U.S. has been rising at 10 percent per year over the past several years. Currently, the olive oil market in the U.S. is estimated to be $1.5 billion.

Related News:

Category: Health and Beauty

Comments are closed.