Transparency
Consumers and retailers should be apprised of the fact that Phileos tests all of its Extra Virgin Olive Oil before it is bottled and shipped to the marketplace. Phileos undertakes taste sampling in order to ensure the oil contains the quality indexes we aspire to. Once the oil meets our strict parameters we then forward it to our accredited labs for chemical analysis.
Phileos proudly share our lab results to prove our premium quality. Chemical analysis of EVOO has proven to be a fundamental indicator of sensory quality, predictor of perishability, and authenticity of olive oils.
Based on chemical analysis, it is confirmed that Phileos' Conventional and Certified Organic extra virgin olive oils far exceed the quality of ALL oils found on grocery shelves today in North America. We are considered an ultra-premium brand. Therefore, why would consumers purchase an inferior olive oil when they can by an ultra-premium product at a similar price point? Even so-called "Premium" EVOOs offered by repackagers/resellers of olive oil cost more than 2 times Phileos' price point, but do not compare in terms of quality to ANY of our Phileos oils. Should you be interested in a "real Ultra, Ultra Premium product", buy Phileos' own "9 Ultra Premium" EVOO. It has extremely low acidity at 0.2% and a polyphenol count of over 1000mg/kg. It has a well-balanced, mild and fruity taste and is extracted hours after harvesting.
Quality Control
We have a strict quality control system in place, and our Product Quality Managers will NEVER allow oil to be sold that has not attained our high standards of quality or met low acidity benchmarks. Our reputation means everything to us and something we have worked very hard to build and maintain. Purchasers of Phileos can remain confident every time they are buying a premium Extra Virgin Olive Oil which is considered one of the freshest and finest in the world.
Are you sure it's EVOO?
Issues of adulteration of Extra Virgin Olive Oil are significant and well documented. "Numerous reports have shown that olive oil tops the list as the most adulterated food product worldwide and the food product most vulnerable to food fraud."
In a comprehensive investigation conducted by the Canadian Food and Inspection Agency (CFIA) in 2017, it was discovered that one-third of olive oils for sale in Canada didn't meet the quality standards set by the International Olive Council (IOC). Information was obtained under the Access to Information Act on the results of chemical analyses of olive oil samples conducted by the CFIA in Ottawa, Canada's capital. After pouring over 1,000 pages of documents, it was learned that 33 percent of samples analyzed by the CFIA did not meet quality standards due to adulteration or mislabelling."
The official lab reports disclosed that large amounts of other types of vegetables oils were detected in samples. Scientists from the food inspection agency confirmed that a lab analysis of olive oil samples showed that they contained traces of sunflower oil". Other samples that were not in conformance with international standards had been adulterated with other vegetable oils like canola and "wrongly labelled" as extra virgin olive oil, or were found to be rancid or past their sell-by date. "Over a period of then years, the CFIA tested 550 olive oil samples from 140 different brands, with 44 brands found to fall short of quality standards. CFIA's laboratory is the only one in Canada certified by the IOC to conduct olive oil analyses."
Unfortunately, the problem that persists in the Canadian Extra Virgin Olive Oil marketplace is that the CFIA does not have the resources to retest the products that were deemed to fall short of standards. They do not conduct these tests annually or on any regularity that would be deemed acceptable by consumers.
The Proof is in the Chemical Analysis
Phileos has had their Extra Virgin Olive Oil randomly tested and analysed by independent laboratories who attest that our Olive Oil is what we claim it to be - Premium EVOO. This prevents Extra Virgin Olive Oil adulteration and guarantees the quality of our product.
Virgin olive oil acidity is usually lower than 2%, and the extra virgin variety, which is the highest quality, has less than 0.8% acidity, as is the case with PHILEOS EVOO. The latter is the optimum oil for consumption. "Acidity, the parameter to be found on labels, measures the quantity of free fatty oleic acid, the main one present in olive oil. Acidity is the percentage (expressed in %) in weight of free oleic acid in relation to the total quantity of oil."
Our Extra Virgin Olive Oil's acidity level is extremely low for oils (0.24%) - guaranteed 0 to 0.3%, in comparison to other EVOO oils. This measure confirms that Phileos is of superb quality and deserving of an award winning status.
What is olive oil acidity?
The level of acidity of an olive in its original state is 0. This is because there has been no processing of the oil. It is the processing of the olives that actually creates the acidity.
Olive oil acidity refers to the amount of fatty acids it contains. Olive oil is produced in a completely natural way inside the olive thanks to the production of triglycerides. Each one of these triglycerides is composed of one molecule of glycerol and three fatty acids. This chemical compound is to be found in each and every vegetable oil.
We call triglycerides oils when they are in their liquid state. When, during the production of the oil, any type of change occurs, the union between fatty acids and the glycerol breaks down. This causes the fatty acids to be released and as a consequence, the quality of the oil goes down.
A low level of free fatty acids is an indicator of better olive oil. So, an acidity level of 0.8 percent is average, 0.5 percent is good and 0.3 percent is considered the highest quality. Therefore, the lower the number the better. By carefully picking great-quality olives and monitoring the production process, Phileos delivers close to 0.24 percent acidity level in every bottle of olive oil which is categorized as Ultra Premium and 0.2% for our 9 Ultra Premium oil. “In order for olive oil to have less than 0.3 percent free fatty acids, it must be made from the best-quality olives and benefit from a state-of-the-art production process. "Measuring free fatty acids is the olive oil industry's highly technical standard of measuring an oil's quality."
The majority of Extra Virgin Olive Oil producers around the world cannot maintain the consistently high quality of oil at the volumes we produce. We just do it right and pride ourselves in that - never compromising quality at any step in the production of our olive oil.
Health is the most important thing we have, so don’t skimp when it comes to getting the best quality food. That’s why you should make sure the acidity of the olive oil you consume is as low as possible, as is the case with our extra virgin oil.
