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Avocado oil is a rising star in the culinary world. It's a heart-healthy cooking oil with a mild flavor that appeals to health-conscious consumers.
But scientists say that adulteration and mislabeling are rampant in the avocado oil industry, and that many people who believe they're buying pure avocado oil are being misled by some of the nation's largest retail chains.
Scientists at the University of California at Davis tested avocado oil samples, and have for the first time revealed the names of a dozen retailers who they say sold products labeled as avocado oil that contained cheap seed and vegetable oils, including Walmart, Sam's Club, Kroger and Safeway. The companies didn't respond to requests for comment.
The researchers found that at least 21 of the products labeled as avocado oil - nearly two-thirds of the 36 bottles they tested - were adulterated, in some cases with other oils that could pose a hazard to people with food sensitivities. The newly released findings are based on tests conducted in 2021 on bottles of store-brand avocado oil purchased from 19 large grocery stores in the United States and Canada.
Other retailers whose products failed testing said they couldn't verify findings based on bottles of oil tested in 2020 or 2021. Some retailers confirmed they don't do their own testing and instead rely on suppliers and third-party services to verify the purity of the oil.
Retailers have a "responsibility to make sure that what's on the label is consistent with the product itself," said Selina Wang, the scientist who led the research and an associate food science professor at the University of California at Davis. "Based on our research that's simply not the case."
In a statement, the Food and Drug Administration acknowledged that "high value oils" such as avocado oil "are potential targets for economically motivated adulteration." "The FDA does not comment on specific studies," an FDA official said, "but evaluates them as part of the body of evidence to further our understanding about a particular issue."
• How cheap avocado oil is made
Avocado oil is the fastest-growing segment of the edible oils market, with global sales of more than half a billion dollars. The UC-Davis research suggested that low-priced avocado oils were the most likely to be adulterated. Most major retailers do not produce their own avocado oil, and instead buy it from suppliers, bottle it and put their store labels on it.
Much of the avocado oil sold by retailers is "refined," which means it's a lower-quality, highly-processed oil that is bleached, deodorized and filtered. (Virgin and extra virgin oils are "unrefined" and typically pressed from high-quality avocados without using heat or chemicals.)
• Suppliers selling fake avocado oil
The popularity of avocado oil is largely due to the health halo around avocados. Avocado oil is rich in heart-healthy monounsaturated fats, antioxidants, minerals and vitamin E.
Avocado oil is relatively expensive to produce, and retail stores that buy it from suppliers at unrealistically low prices should have some idea that they're not getting the real thing, Wang said. "If a buyer finds that an oil is quite a bit lower in price compared to others, there's probably a reason for that," she added.
Some suppliers and producers said it's an open secret that adulteration is rampant in the avocado oil industry. Ben Barnard, the founder and chairman of AvoPacific, one of the largest avocado oil producers in North America, said he has seen competitors selling refined avocado oil to retailers for prices so low that it would not be possible for them to make a profit if their avocado oil was real.
"We were getting undercut by more than 50 percent in some cases and kind of being laughed at," Barnard said. "If you just followed the numbers, anyone in the industry could have told you what was going on."
The company said that most of its oil is sold under its own label, AvoPacific. In 2020, UC-Davis tested an AvoPacific oil sold under the brand name "CalPure Extra Virgin Avocado Oil," and it passed their tests.
• The avocado oil brands that failed testing
The avocado oil researchers initially published their findings in a scientific journal last fall without disclosing the names of the adulterated products. But at the request of The Washington Post, the researchers agreed to disclose the names of the brands that failed their tests because adulterated oils can put people with food sensitivities at risk.
The tests showed that six retailers - Walmart, Trader Joe's, Aldi, Metro, Meijer and Kroger - sold bottles labeled as avocado oil that contained high levels of oleic sunflower or safflower oils. These oils are less expensive than avocado oil and have different health and culinary properties. At Target and Sprouts, the researchers found bottles of store-brand avocado oil that their tests indicated contained canola oil, a less expensive cooking oil.
In some cases, the tests showed that bottles labeled avocado oil contained other oils that could not be identified. The researchers said they found that sunflower, safflower, canola, and soybean oils were the most common adulterants in products labeled as avocado oil. These oils look similar to refined avocado oil but are cheaper to make.
Price was not always a reliable indicator of adulteration. One of the most expensive products included in the study was Stop & Shop's store-brand "extra-virgin" avocado oil, which sells for close to $9 for an 8.45-ounce bottle, or more than a dollar per ounce. The researchers tested two bottles of the product and found that both contained oils that were neither extra virgin nor avocado oil. It was unclear what type of oil or oils were in the bottles.
Stop & Shop's cold-pressed "Extra Virgin" avocado oil was the only extra-virgin oil in the study that was found to be adulterated with other oils.
• Retailers dispute the findings
In general, retailers who responded to questions about the adulterated oils said it's impossible for them to verify findings based on bottles of oil tested that were made in 2020 or 2021.
In a statement, Stop & Shop said that the avocado oil included in the UC-Davis study was procured from a former supplier and that it is no longer available in its stores. "Our current supplier of store brand extra virgin avocado oil has provided a certification that the store brand extra virgin avocado oil is extra virgin avocado oil," the company said. "Stop & Shop continues to work with the current supplier to provide customers with a great product at a great value."
The company would not say who its previous supplier was, but it added that it was incorporating "our own routine testing."
Trader Joe's said in a statement that its suppliers and "certified third-party labs" use industry-standard testing procedures to evaluate their avocado oil for quality and authenticity. "Based on the results of this testing, we believe Trader Joe's Avocado Oil is 100 percent avocado oil," the company said. The company added that it could not retest the batches that were included in the study because the products were no longer sold in its stores.
A spokesperson for Metro said the results of the UC-Davis study do not match company records that show its avocado oils meet standards. "Additionally, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency tested samples of the extra virgin avocado oil collected from our supplier's facility in November 2023, and it was compliant.
A spokesperson for Target said the company requires its manufacturing partners to comply with all federal, state, and local regulations. "While we were unaware of the report's findings with these products, we will work with our manufacturing partners to evaluate these claims," the spokesperson said.
A spokesperson for Sprouts Farmers Market said the company "places the utmost importance on the quality, integrity and transparency of our Sprouts Brand products. Our Sprouts Brand avocado oil met required standards for purity when the product was manufactured in 2020."
Bottles of store-brand avocado oil purchased from Safeway, ShopRite and Sam's Club were also found to be adulterated with other oils. In a statement, ShopRite said that it was in the process of reviewing the findings and that it had asked its supplier to test lot samples from the avocado oil that was included in the study. "Our vendor has assured us the avocado oil in question is not adulterated," the company said. "Nevertheless, we will be conducting our own third-party investigation to ensure the quality and purity of our Bowl & Basket product."
Walmart, Sam's Club, Safeway, Aldi, and Kroger didn't respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for Fresh Thyme, the brand that was purchased from Meijer, declined to comment.
Wang at UC-Davis said retailers should not rely solely on certifications from suppliers for products that are at high risk of being adulterated. "Retailers should do their own testing to ensure that the label on the bottle is consistent with the product in the bottle," she said.
Wang said it was possible in cases where a retailer did its own independent testing that their results might differ from UC-Davis's test results if different lots were tested or if the retailer used multiple suppliers. "We have observed significant differences in the quality and purity of oil from different lot numbers, even when sourced from the same retailer," she added.
In their study, Wang and her co-author, Hilary S. Green, found that refined avocado oils, particularly those that listed Spain as their country of origin, were the most likely to be adulterated. At least 19 out of the 29 bottles of refined avocado oil included in their study contained other oils, and every single one of the 11 bottles in the study that contained oil from Spain was found to be adulterated.
In some cases, the UC-Davis researchers discovered striking variation within individual brands.
For instance, tests indicated that a bottle of Wegmans refined and expeller-pressed "Pure Avocado Oil" was mixed or substituted with a different oil. But when the researchers tested a bottle of Wegmans "Extra Virgin" avocado oil, they found that it contained pure avocado oil.
In a statement, Wegmans said that its supplier sends every lot of its avocado oil to a third-party lab for analysis. "Product does not leave our supplier's facility until they have the results, and it is confirmed that what's on the label is what's in the bottle," the company said. "We also occasionally do our own testing to ensure the legitimacy of our products."
The company said that in April an independent lab tested samples of its store-brand avocado oils, purchased from Wegmans' store shelves, and that the samples were found to be free from adulteration.
• Problems in the edible oil industry
Wang was part of a team that garnered international attention in 2010 for a study that revealed that most imported olive oils labeled "extra virgin" were not extra virgin at all. The findings led to the creation of a California olive oil commission and the adoption of stricter labeling standards.
Wang turned her attention to avocado oil when she heard rumors that some producers were knowingly selling rancid and adulterated oils. She said she had also received messages from people with food allergies who were worried about unknowingly being exposed to food allergens because of adulterated avocado oil.
Wang said the Food and Drug Administration needs to adopt an official "standard of identity" for avocado oil, which would describe in detail the characteristics that an oil must have to be sold as avocado oil. The FDA has established these standards for more than 250 foods, including milk, peanut butter, ketchup, milk chocolate, bread and jam. But avocado oil does not yet have a standard of identity.