What are the grades of olive oil?

Only olive oil labels approved by official authorities such as Codex Alimentarius, the International Olive Council (IOC), the European Union (EU), the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and Australian authorities are to be trusted.

To put into simple words, there are only four grades of olive oils that are fit for human consumption. These oils are either virgin olive oil or oils refined from low-quality olive oil unfit for consumption.

Virgin Olive Oil

Virgin olive oils are only mechanically produced and have a low acid number.

• Extra Virgin Olive Oil: It is olive oil of the highest quality with low acid, <0.8%, and excellent sensory profile with no sensory defects.
• Virgin Olive Oil: Acid content is <2.0% with acceptable/ good flavor and odor.

Refined Blended Olive Oil

• “Pure” Olive Oil: It is a blend of refined olive oil, which is processed from lampante oil, with virgin olive oil.
• Olive Pomace Oil: It consists of refined olive pomace oil derived from pomace with chemical extraction blended with virgin olive oil.

There are four other grades of olive oil, all of which are unfit for human consumption. They are low-quality olive oil and their intermediate refined products that are obtained after a series of refining processes.

• Lampante Virgin Olive Oil (Simply, Lampante Oil): Although it is a virgin olive oil made from only mechanical processes, its quality is very low, with high acidity and multiple sensory defects.
• Crude Pomace Oil: It is the oil extracted chemically from pomace, the residue after mechanical extraction of olive fruits, using organic solvents, usually hexane.
• Refined Olive Oil: It is produced from a further refining process of a lampante olive oil.
• Refined Pomace Olive Oil: It is obtained from a sequential refining process of crude pomace oil.