11 ms·

If this is true, I am genuinely surprised that it is legal to sell "Truffle oil". Take the truffle oil offered by 3 big UK supermarkets [1][2][3]. All three st

If this is true, I am genuinely surprised that it is legal to sell "Truffle oil". Take the truffle oil offered by 3 big UK supermarkets [1][2][3]. All three stores describe it as having: > Ingredients: > Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Truffle Extract What else are we to interpret "truffle extract" as, other than an extract made from truffles? Sainsbury's describes it as "Truffle flavour" [3] which I guess I could see as not actually stating it contains truffles (aside from the previously mentioned ingredients list). But Tesco describes it as "Truffle Flavoured" [1], which seems to me to more strongly imply it actually contains some truffle, and Asda describes it as "Flavoured with White Truffle" [2] which to me sounds like an unambiguous statement that it contains at least some white truffle. If this article is accurate, it seems like a complete and utter con. [1] http://www.tesco.com/groceries/product/details/?id=292974500 http://www.tesco.com/groceries/product/details/?id=292974500 [2] https://groceries.asda.com/product/seed-nut-oil/la-espanola-extra-virgin-olive-oil-flavoured-with-white-truffle/910002512430 https://groceries.asda.com/product/seed-nut-oil/la-espanola-... [3] http://www.sainsburys.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/gb/groceries/la-espanola-truffle-flavour-olive-oil-250ml?langId=44&storeId=10151&krypto=PZcOd%2FzyK5UzG9u54ivMIX4MX2tRdTeU7MGFHHWCKsseTJyaQ63bOvh5V61FjA1RMzt4p5lrIWnHfuDhwZG51WeK9NxDJM7KdBhoYCj9RTbKVsTLeBSQojSDErlw%2FK2n&ddkey=http%3Agb%2Fgroceries%2Fla-espanola-truffle-flavour-olive-oil-250ml http://www.sainsburys.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/gb/gro...

andrewla 10y ago
I agree that this seems odd, and all I've ever seen as proof that "truffle oil does not contain truffles" is the bald assertion, without any other evidence. In the US, I can imagine (barely) that this might be permissible, but in Europe, with DOC and AOC laws, it seems almost impossible that something could be called "truffle oil" as opposed to "truffle-flavoured oil". "Truffle Extract" and "Flavoured with White Truffle" seem to be pretty unambiguously claiming that truffles were involved in the preparation.
- Alex3917 10y ago
  > all I've ever seen as proof that "truffle oil does not contain truffles" is the bald assertion, without any other evidence. It's not even possible to make commercial truffle oil with real truffles, because the flavor doesn't last longer than a day or two. You could theoretically make it in your house and then use it immediately, but there wouldn't really be any point.
  - mack73 10y ago
    > It's not even possible to make commercial truffle oil with real truffles, because the flavor doesn't last longer than a day or two. Actually, the reason it's not possible to make real truffle oil is because (drum roll plz) truffles aren't soluble in oil. Or rather, the compound that holds the truffle essance is not soluble in oil.
    - RBerenguel 10y ago
      It's slightly, but only a little. When you buy truffles you should preserve them in oil actually (because it won't take out the flavour), it will be scented but barely so. And the truffle will last more
    - NLips 10y ago
      Surely it doesn't need to be a solution - it can just be a suspension? The difference between extra virgin olive oil and purer grades are that the purer grades are filtered, not (e.g.) distilled.
      - mack73 10y ago
        Extra means the oil contains no more than 0.8% of free oleic acid. Virgin means the oil comes from a mechanical process, not a chemical one. The purest grade extra virgin olive oil is the first cold pressed. It's neither filtered nor distilled. Refined olive oil however is filtered and also tasteless. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olive_oil#Commercial_grades https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olive_oil#Commercial_grades
        NLips 10y ago
        From the same page: "The refining process removes colour, odour and flavour from the olive oil, and leaves behind a very pure form of olive oil that is tasteless, colourless and odourless and extremely low in free fatty acids" I don't mean 'pure' in a good sense, just that it is a simple mixture.
- logfromblammo 10y ago
  I am primed to believe the worst after learning that a container labeled as "100% Extra-Virgin Olive Oil. Product of Italy." might not bear even a single truthful statement. The barest of investigative scrutiny reveals it as filtered and deodorized Spanish third-pressing olive oil, cut with hazelnut oil, that spent a traumatic night in Italy once. Or when I learned that the "clover honey" sold in grocery stores might actually be Chinese honey, from hives supplemented with high-fructose corn syrup, with all pollen and particulates filtered out to conceal its origins, then cut again during bottling with high-fructose corn syrup. The burden of proof is actually on the manufacturer to show that their "truffle oil" contains actual truffles. The question is whether or not I can believe their claim without proof--and I don't. If it sells at a premium above a near-equivalent commodity good, my default assumption is that the claims are marketing bullshit aimed at credulous buyers. But how important is the claim anyway? If it makes my food taste better at a fair price, I don't really care if it has any actual truffle in it. I don't even know what actual truffle tastes like--nor do I really care to learn, at their typical market prices. But I think in the U.S., there would definitely be a problem if a food label stated "natural flavor" or "truffle extract" when it was actually "artificial flavor". The name on the front of the package doesn't matter much here, except for specific exceptions. But if the back read as anything other than "olive oil, artificial flavor" the manufacturer could get slapped on the wrist so hard.
  - basseq 10y ago
    The difference between "natural" and "artificial" flavors is academic at best. Fundamentally, they're the same chemical compounds: the difference is how those compounds are obtained... and the premium you can charge for being "natural". But natural does not mean that the named ingredient was involved at all. From an older Scientific American article: Natural coconut flavorings, for example, depend on a chemical called massoya lactone. Massoya lactone comes from the bark of the Massoya tree, which grows in Malaysia. ... This pure natural chemical is identical to the version made in an organic chemists laboratory, yet it is much more expensive than the synthetic alternative. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-is-the-difference-be-2002-07-29/ http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-is-the-differ...
- 13of40 10y ago
  My wife picked up a cheap bottle of what claimed to be truffle oil at a chain grocery store in Herculaneum (that's in Europe) last year. On inspection, it was actually a bottle of cheap vegetable oil with a slice of some other kind of mushroom in it and a hint of trufflesque flavoring. Maybe somewhere in the fine print it said what the flavoring actually was, but the rest of the bottle, from the "TARTUFO!" label on the front to the fake truffle chunk inside, was a blatant con.
- soperj 10y ago
  There's also been cases of shredded Parmesan not containing and Parmesan at all, and a big part of it actually being woodpulp.
  - nommm-nommm 10y ago
    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-02-16/the-parmesan-cheese-you-sprinkle-on-your-penne-could-be-wood http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-02-16/the-parmes... >Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania-based Castle produced mainly imitation cheeses for nearly 30 years. The company, whose factory was adorned with crenelated battlements and curved archways to look like a medieval castle, had $19 million in sales in 2013. >According to the FDA’s report on Castle, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, “no parmesan cheese was used to manufacture” the Market Pantry brand 100% grated Parmesan Cheese, sold at Target Corp. stores, and Always Save Grated Parmesan Cheese and Best Choice 100% Grated Parmesan Cheese, sold by Associated Wholesale Grocers Inc., which along with its subsidiaries supplies 3,400 retail stores in 30 states. Instead, there was a mixture of Swiss, mozzarella, white cheddar and cellulose, according to the FDA. >Castle President Michelle Myrter is scheduled to plead guilty this month to criminal charges. She faces up to a year in prison and a $100,000 fine.
    - _puk 10y ago
      30 years of $x million annual sales of essentially counterfeit product results in "up to" a year long sentence and $100,000 fine. Madness. Though I find it ironic that they responded honestly to the FOI request.
      - nommm-nommm 10y ago
        You are surprised the FDA responded honestly to a Freedom of Information Act request? The FOIA request was a request to the FDA from Bloomberg for the FDA's investigation on Castle. It was used by Bloomberg to write the article. The Freedom of Information Act is only to request information from a government agency. To uncover the fraud the FDA physically visited Castle. They were tipped off by a disgruntled former employee. Without the tip off there is a extremely small chance they would have ever been caught.
- nommm-nommm 10y ago
  Who cares if it's permissible? Food fraud is surprisingly common and the chances of getting caught are close to zero. If you buy fish there's a 33% chance you get a different fish than what you bought. http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/02/21/172589997/one-in-three-fish-sold-at-restaurants-and-grocery-stores-is-mislabeled http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/02/21/172589997/one...
  - andrewla 10y ago
    I saw this article and was slightly dubious as well. Some follow-up research indicates that the testing methodologies used had known error rates approaching the discrepencies detected during the analysis. That was enough to make me somewhat skeptical of the analysis, without doing the due diligence to dig any deeper into it. I would be much more comfortable if someone had a sting operation or videotaped an instance of actually substituting the fish as claimed, which should be incredibly easy considering how common they allege the substitutions are.
- 4ad 10y ago
  I can't speak for all Europe, but here in Austria truffle oil has small pieces of truffle in it. Of course, those do nothing, as the chemicals found in truffles are, to a first approximation not soluble in oil. It's just the same chemical crap with some placebo truffle in it. Friends don't let friends buy truffle oil.
chefandy 10y ago
Well they sell Girlscout cookies...
- DonHopkins 10y ago
  ...and baby oil.
corin_ 10y ago
> But Tesco describes it as "Truffle Flavoured" [1], which seems to me to more strongly imply it actually contains some truffle "X Flavoured" is accepted terminology for not containing X. For example, sweets can be "fruit flavoured", crips (US/chips) can be "bacon flavoured", with no expectation (either cultural or legal) that they are made using real fruit or bacon. "Flavoured with White Truffle", on the other hand, would need to use actual white truffle in some way.
- fusiongyro 10y ago
  There are actually a lot of kosher "bacon" potato chip flavors. The flavor is usually faked with smoked paprika. "Bacon salt" is also kosher, for the same reason. In that case, keeping it kosher widens the market a bit, and the man on the street probably can't tell the difference anyway. Beside that, it's probably cheaper and easier to flavor with smoked paprika than actual bacon. I have some truffle oil at home and always wondered how it could possibly be profitable to produce; one wouldn't want to squeeze anything out of a truffle. I guess now I have the answer, but I'm not too upset about it. It's probably as close to truffle-flavor as any grocery store in my state will actually get.
  - djsumdog 10y ago
    I was on a bus with some bacon flavoured peanuts. I read the ingredients (which was thankfully in English; most of the package was in Russian) and noticed it had no actual bacon. Two of my friends on the bus were vegetarian and one said, "oh yea, smoked paprika. That's used in a lot of vegetarian stuff for bacon-type flavour." They then precoded to try some bacon peanuts.
  - bri3d 10y ago
    The "bacon bits" sold at most US grocery stories under brand names like "Bac'n Pieces" and "Bac-Os" are a famous "I can't believe it's vegan" food - they're just bread with smoked paprika / liquid smoke based flavoring. Similarly, "Butter Lover's" microwave popcorn is generally vegan also.
    - 10y ago
Ygg2 10y ago
> Ingredients: > Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Truffle Extract That's like a double lie, right there. If they are cheap enough to skimp on Truffles, what is to say, they aren't cheap enough to skimp on Virgin Olive Oil? > Honest ingredients: > Sunflower oil, Olive flavor, Truffles flavor* * which might have at one point passed near a guy that ate actual Truffles
- koolba 10y ago
  I'm sure the explanation is that: "Extra" refers to them using a larger portion than normal, "Virgin" is the company name of their supplier, "Olive" is a variety of sunflower seed, and there is a missing dash in "Truffle Ex-Tract".
- dsugarman 10y ago
  It is estimated that 70% of Olive Oils in super markets are fraudulent so I definitely don't think truffle oil contains the good stuff.
  - shostack 10y ago
    I just read somewhere that the only Whole Foods 365 evoo that is actually pure and unblended is their California one and not any of the other Mediterranean country ones. Super sketchy. This should be outlawed.
    - scythe 10y ago
      It is outlawed. Organized crime controls a shocking proportion of the European olive oil market. For the last several years, I've exclusively bought olive oil grown and produced in America. To my knowledge, it's all real.
- twism 10y ago
  probably in addition to the honest ingredients the sunflower oil has been known to fraternize with the palm and coconut oil
chadgeidel 10y ago
And "Extra Virgin Olive Oil" generally isn't. This has made the rounds a few times - a quick googling turns up this article from about a year ago: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/11988947/Italian-companies-investigated-for-passing-off-ordinary-olive-oil-as-extra-virgin.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/11988... EDIT: I see @codezero beat me to the punch: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12453683 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12453683
radiorental 10y ago
It could easily have truffle extract in the practical sense but none in the homeopathic sense if you know what I mean.
DonHopkins 10y ago
Maybe it's homeopathic. I've heard of water memory, but is there such a thing as olive oil memory?
WorldMaker 10y ago
I am under the impression that the food term "extract" is generally not very well regulated and says nothing about when or how it was extracted. At least in the US, I don't think the FDA regulates the terminology that heavily, but I may be mistaken. I believe there are some well known flavor extracts that were chemically extracted decades ago and since have been maintained as artificial cultures in various ways (certain types of banana extracts used in candies, for instance). I don't know if truffle extract is one of them, though. I guess more accurately, I don't know if we can tell from just an ingredients list which sort of "extract" it might be, if it's a recent "fresh" extract product or some form of a longer term chemical extraction process. (I think the US FDA, at least, does regulate what constitutes "Natural Flavorings" and so the lack of the word "natural" in packaging could be a sign, maybe.)
matco11 10y ago
What the article states is not true (but - at the same time - it's not false!): it's simple, you can buy "truffle oil" that does not contain truffle, or you can keep your eye sharp (and pay more) and buy oil containing real truffle (I have done both!) Same applies to a lot of food out there. Here is a good example, olive oil: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/is-your-olive-oil-really-olive-oil/ http://www.marksdailyapple.com/is-your-olive-oil-really-oliv... Of course you can buy perfectly genuine, high quality, olive oil, you just need to know how to pick. The same applies to truffle oil. The article is really saying that there are brands out there selling artificially flavored truffle oil (not a great surprise, if you ask me), and it fails to clarify a number of underlying premises it's making (or should be making). For example: 1) it is just not true that truffle is the most expensive food in the world. WHITE truffles are. Black truffles are a lot more common and a lot less expensive. 2) white truffle and black truffle are very different: not only they have a different taste, or grow in different geographies, but you eat them differently. For example you always only eat white truffle raw, while you usually cook black truffle. Truffles oil is normally made with black truffle, because the flavor of white truffle is hard to preserve in olive oil. 3) truffles are an underground mushroom. Like all mushrooms, there are many varieties (beyond the fact that they may be white or black), some are more flavorful than others. Their flavor is also affected by the type of tree they grew on (on the roots), which I think it's quite interesting. 4) black truffles grow in a handful of geographies around the world (the best ones are normally considered to be from France, Italy, or Spain), they last several days so they can be transported relatively easily 5) high quality white truffles come only from one - small -region in Italy, they last only 5-7 days from the moment they are picked and are difficult to transport (without making them spoil). The world's capital of white truffles is here (for October to December): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alba,_Piedmont https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alba,_Piedmont People spend huge sums for white truffles, some get bought for $30k, $40k or even $50k, which are even more astounding amounts, if you consider they are for a rock-like looking mushroom that will flavor one or two meals for you and will otherwise spoil in a few days... Bonus fun trivia: truffles have not been successfully farmed, so they have to picked in the wild. Picking methods are different in different parts of the world: In France they normally use pigs to sniff truffles in the forests. Apparently one of the essences emitted by truffles is similar to sexual feromones in pigs, so they are naturally attracted to them and instinctively dig in the ground for them (but then the truffle picker has to pull The pig away before it the truffle gets eaten). In Italy, they use dogs. It takes years to train a dog to hunt for the smell of truffle (they told me 3-5 years is common), but then dogs do not eat truffles and when they find them, they carefully dig in the ground without breaking the truffle.
SeanLuke 10y ago
> If this article is accurate, it seems like a complete and utter con. It is absolutely true. Except in rare (and usually very expensive) cases, truffle oil does not contain anything made from truffles.
DanBC 10y ago
Something like a "chicken pie" would have to say how much chicken is in the pie. There's an exemption to that rule for ingredients that are used in small quantities for flavour. http://www.food.gov.uk/sites/default/files/multimedia/pdfs/quid.pdf http://www.food.gov.uk/sites/default/files/multimedia/pdfs/q... > An ingredient or category of ingredients which is used in small quantities for the purposes of flavouring > Regulation 19(2)(a)(iii) > 30. This exemption would apply whether or not pictorial representations are included on the label. Labels must comply with Schedule 8 to the Food Labelling Regulations 1996, as amended, concerning the use of the term “flavour” and should not infringe the provisions either of Section 15(1) of the Food Safety Act 1990 (concerning false or misleading indications) or the Trade Descriptions Act 1968. Schedule 8 of The Food Labelling Regulations 1996 say: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1996/1499/contents/made http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1996/1499/contents/made > Any description incorporating the name of a food in such a way as to imply that the food, or the part of a food, being described has the flavour of the food named in the description. > Shall not be applied to any food unless the flavour of the food being described is derived wholly or mainly from the food named in the description, except that any description incorporating the word “chocolate” which is such as to imply that the food being described has a chocolate flavour may be applied to a food which has a chocolate flavour derived wholly or mainly from non fat cocoa solids where the purchaser would not be misled by the description. > This shall not be taken to prevent the use of the word “flavour” preceded by the name of a food when the flavour of the food being described is not wholly or mainly from the food named in the description. I genuinely don't know who regulates this.
- NLips 10y ago
  England: DEFRA Scotland, Wales, NI: Food Standards Agency See http://tna.europarchive.org/20130513091226/http://www.food.gov.uk/news-updates/news/2010/sep/labelgov http://tna.europarchive.org/20130513091226/http://www.food.g...
- TillE 10y ago
  > how much chicken is in the pie Yeah, I love the percentages on the ingredients for each item which is mentioned in the name of the product. My only real complaint about EU food labeling is that I wish they were a little more consistent about allergens. Sometimes they're bolded, sometimes only mentioned in a list at the end.
tptacek 10y ago
"Vanilla extract" is often artificial as well. What's more interesting: in its intended application (baked goods), repeated Cooks Illustrated taste tests were unable to distinguish artificial vanilla from the expensive stuff.
- objclxt 10y ago
  > "Vanilla extract" is often artificial as well. In many countries there are legal requirements for "Vanilla Extract" vis a vis the percentage that comes from vanilla beans, as opposed to "Vanilla Essence", which can and is typically artificial. (I confess I bake a lot)
  - semi-extrinsic 10y ago
    No need to "confess"; baking is science for hungry people. ( https://www.topatoco.com/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=TO&Product_Code=QC-BAKING https://www.topatoco.com/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code... )
  - logfromblammo 10y ago
    Chemically speaking, synthesized vanillin is indistinguishable from the vanillin extracted from plants. But vanilla plants contain a lot of other flavor/odor chemicals (like anise alcohol/methylguaiacol, p-hydroxybenzaldehyde/trimethylpirazine, p-cresol/anisole, guaiacol, piperonal) in addition to the one primarily chemical (vanillin), which may also be desirable in certain applications, such as foods or perfumes. I would have no problem buying 750 mL of 40% grain alcohol loaded up with sugar and artificial vanillin if I'm gearing up for a giant bake sale or something, but I'd still keep the 10 mL bottle of the real stuff for finishing sauces, frostings, icings, or beverages. Important caveat, though: vanillin derived from engineered bacteria or yeasts may be eligible to be labeled as "natural flavor"!
- douche 10y ago
  In my experience in the US, it is usually labeled well whether it is artificial or natural. Natural usually costs at least 3x as much artificial.
codesterling 10y ago
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/16/dining/16truf.html?_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/16/dining/16truf.html?_r=0
celticninja 10y ago
I think it is US specific as you could not do that under existing EU laws.
dogma1138 10y ago
You better check what do they define as "extra virgin olive oil" because in many cases it's also not olive oil ;) Oilception.

andrewla 10y ago

I agree that this seems odd, and all I've ever seen as proof that "truffle oil does not contain truffles" is the bald assertion, without any other evidence. In the US, I can imagine (barely) that this might be permissible, but in Europe, with DOC and AOC laws, it seems almost impossible that something could be called "truffle oil" as opposed to "truffle-flavoured oil". "Truffle Extract" and "Flavoured with White Truffle" seem to be pretty unambiguously claiming that truffles were involved in the preparation.

Alex3917 10y ago
> all I've ever seen as proof that "truffle oil does not contain truffles" is the bald assertion, without any other evidence. It's not even possible to make commercial truffle oil with real truffles, because the flavor doesn't last longer than a day or two. You could theoretically make it in your house and then use it immediately, but there wouldn't really be any point.
- mack73 10y ago
  > It's not even possible to make commercial truffle oil with real truffles, because the flavor doesn't last longer than a day or two. Actually, the reason it's not possible to make real truffle oil is because (drum roll plz) truffles aren't soluble in oil. Or rather, the compound that holds the truffle essance is not soluble in oil.
  - RBerenguel 10y ago
    It's slightly, but only a little. When you buy truffles you should preserve them in oil actually (because it won't take out the flavour), it will be scented but barely so. And the truffle will last more
  - NLips 10y ago
    Surely it doesn't need to be a solution - it can just be a suspension? The difference between extra virgin olive oil and purer grades are that the purer grades are filtered, not (e.g.) distilled.
    - mack73 10y ago
      Extra means the oil contains no more than 0.8% of free oleic acid. Virgin means the oil comes from a mechanical process, not a chemical one. The purest grade extra virgin olive oil is the first cold pressed. It's neither filtered nor distilled. Refined olive oil however is filtered and also tasteless. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olive_oil#Commercial_grades https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olive_oil#Commercial_grades
      - NLips 10y ago
        From the same page: "The refining process removes colour, odour and flavour from the olive oil, and leaves behind a very pure form of olive oil that is tasteless, colourless and odourless and extremely low in free fatty acids" I don't mean 'pure' in a good sense, just that it is a simple mixture.
logfromblammo 10y ago
I am primed to believe the worst after learning that a container labeled as "100% Extra-Virgin Olive Oil. Product of Italy." might not bear even a single truthful statement. The barest of investigative scrutiny reveals it as filtered and deodorized Spanish third-pressing olive oil, cut with hazelnut oil, that spent a traumatic night in Italy once. Or when I learned that the "clover honey" sold in grocery stores might actually be Chinese honey, from hives supplemented with high-fructose corn syrup, with all pollen and particulates filtered out to conceal its origins, then cut again during bottling with high-fructose corn syrup. The burden of proof is actually on the manufacturer to show that their "truffle oil" contains actual truffles. The question is whether or not I can believe their claim without proof--and I don't. If it sells at a premium above a near-equivalent commodity good, my default assumption is that the claims are marketing bullshit aimed at credulous buyers. But how important is the claim anyway? If it makes my food taste better at a fair price, I don't really care if it has any actual truffle in it. I don't even know what actual truffle tastes like--nor do I really care to learn, at their typical market prices. But I think in the U.S., there would definitely be a problem if a food label stated "natural flavor" or "truffle extract" when it was actually "artificial flavor". The name on the front of the package doesn't matter much here, except for specific exceptions. But if the back read as anything other than "olive oil, artificial flavor" the manufacturer could get slapped on the wrist so hard.
- basseq 10y ago
  The difference between "natural" and "artificial" flavors is academic at best. Fundamentally, they're the same chemical compounds: the difference is how those compounds are obtained... and the premium you can charge for being "natural". But natural does not mean that the named ingredient was involved at all. From an older Scientific American article: Natural coconut flavorings, for example, depend on a chemical called massoya lactone. Massoya lactone comes from the bark of the Massoya tree, which grows in Malaysia. ... This pure natural chemical is identical to the version made in an organic chemists laboratory, yet it is much more expensive than the synthetic alternative. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-is-the-difference-be-2002-07-29/ http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-is-the-differ...
13of40 10y ago
My wife picked up a cheap bottle of what claimed to be truffle oil at a chain grocery store in Herculaneum (that's in Europe) last year. On inspection, it was actually a bottle of cheap vegetable oil with a slice of some other kind of mushroom in it and a hint of trufflesque flavoring. Maybe somewhere in the fine print it said what the flavoring actually was, but the rest of the bottle, from the "TARTUFO!" label on the front to the fake truffle chunk inside, was a blatant con.
soperj 10y ago
There's also been cases of shredded Parmesan not containing and Parmesan at all, and a big part of it actually being woodpulp.
- nommm-nommm 10y ago
  http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-02-16/the-parmesan-cheese-you-sprinkle-on-your-penne-could-be-wood http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-02-16/the-parmes... >Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania-based Castle produced mainly imitation cheeses for nearly 30 years. The company, whose factory was adorned with crenelated battlements and curved archways to look like a medieval castle, had $19 million in sales in 2013. >According to the FDA’s report on Castle, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, “no parmesan cheese was used to manufacture” the Market Pantry brand 100% grated Parmesan Cheese, sold at Target Corp. stores, and Always Save Grated Parmesan Cheese and Best Choice 100% Grated Parmesan Cheese, sold by Associated Wholesale Grocers Inc., which along with its subsidiaries supplies 3,400 retail stores in 30 states. Instead, there was a mixture of Swiss, mozzarella, white cheddar and cellulose, according to the FDA. >Castle President Michelle Myrter is scheduled to plead guilty this month to criminal charges. She faces up to a year in prison and a $100,000 fine.
  - _puk 10y ago
    30 years of $x million annual sales of essentially counterfeit product results in "up to" a year long sentence and $100,000 fine. Madness. Though I find it ironic that they responded honestly to the FOI request.
    - nommm-nommm 10y ago
      You are surprised the FDA responded honestly to a Freedom of Information Act request? The FOIA request was a request to the FDA from Bloomberg for the FDA's investigation on Castle. It was used by Bloomberg to write the article. The Freedom of Information Act is only to request information from a government agency. To uncover the fraud the FDA physically visited Castle. They were tipped off by a disgruntled former employee. Without the tip off there is a extremely small chance they would have ever been caught.
nommm-nommm 10y ago
Who cares if it's permissible? Food fraud is surprisingly common and the chances of getting caught are close to zero. If you buy fish there's a 33% chance you get a different fish than what you bought. http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/02/21/172589997/one-in-three-fish-sold-at-restaurants-and-grocery-stores-is-mislabeled http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/02/21/172589997/one...
- andrewla 10y ago
  I saw this article and was slightly dubious as well. Some follow-up research indicates that the testing methodologies used had known error rates approaching the discrepencies detected during the analysis. That was enough to make me somewhat skeptical of the analysis, without doing the due diligence to dig any deeper into it. I would be much more comfortable if someone had a sting operation or videotaped an instance of actually substituting the fish as claimed, which should be incredibly easy considering how common they allege the substitutions are.
4ad 10y ago
I can't speak for all Europe, but here in Austria truffle oil has small pieces of truffle in it. Of course, those do nothing, as the chemicals found in truffles are, to a first approximation not soluble in oil. It's just the same chemical crap with some placebo truffle in it. Friends don't let friends buy truffle oil.

chefandy 10y ago

Well they sell Girlscout cookies...

DonHopkins 10y ago
...and baby oil.

corin_ 10y ago

> But Tesco describes it as "Truffle Flavoured" [1], which seems to me to more strongly imply it actually contains some truffle "X Flavoured" is accepted terminology for not containing X. For example, sweets can be "fruit flavoured", crips (US/chips) can be "bacon flavoured", with no expectation (either cultural or legal) that they are made using real fruit or bacon. "Flavoured with White Truffle", on the other hand, would need to use actual white truffle in some way.

fusiongyro 10y ago
There are actually a lot of kosher "bacon" potato chip flavors. The flavor is usually faked with smoked paprika. "Bacon salt" is also kosher, for the same reason. In that case, keeping it kosher widens the market a bit, and the man on the street probably can't tell the difference anyway. Beside that, it's probably cheaper and easier to flavor with smoked paprika than actual bacon. I have some truffle oil at home and always wondered how it could possibly be profitable to produce; one wouldn't want to squeeze anything out of a truffle. I guess now I have the answer, but I'm not too upset about it. It's probably as close to truffle-flavor as any grocery store in my state will actually get.
- djsumdog 10y ago
  I was on a bus with some bacon flavoured peanuts. I read the ingredients (which was thankfully in English; most of the package was in Russian) and noticed it had no actual bacon. Two of my friends on the bus were vegetarian and one said, "oh yea, smoked paprika. That's used in a lot of vegetarian stuff for bacon-type flavour." They then precoded to try some bacon peanuts.
- bri3d 10y ago
  The "bacon bits" sold at most US grocery stories under brand names like "Bac'n Pieces" and "Bac-Os" are a famous "I can't believe it's vegan" food - they're just bread with smoked paprika / liquid smoke based flavoring. Similarly, "Butter Lover's" microwave popcorn is generally vegan also.
  - 10y ago

Ygg2 10y ago

> Ingredients: > Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Truffle Extract That's like a double lie, right there. If they are cheap enough to skimp on Truffles, what is to say, they aren't cheap enough to skimp on Virgin Olive Oil? > Honest ingredients: > Sunflower oil, Olive flavor, Truffles flavor* * which might have at one point passed near a guy that ate actual Truffles

koolba 10y ago
I'm sure the explanation is that: "Extra" refers to them using a larger portion than normal, "Virgin" is the company name of their supplier, "Olive" is a variety of sunflower seed, and there is a missing dash in "Truffle Ex-Tract".
dsugarman 10y ago
It is estimated that 70% of Olive Oils in super markets are fraudulent so I definitely don't think truffle oil contains the good stuff.
- shostack 10y ago
  I just read somewhere that the only Whole Foods 365 evoo that is actually pure and unblended is their California one and not any of the other Mediterranean country ones. Super sketchy. This should be outlawed.
  - scythe 10y ago
    It is outlawed. Organized crime controls a shocking proportion of the European olive oil market. For the last several years, I've exclusively bought olive oil grown and produced in America. To my knowledge, it's all real.
twism 10y ago
probably in addition to the honest ingredients the sunflower oil has been known to fraternize with the palm and coconut oil

chadgeidel 10y ago

And "Extra Virgin Olive Oil" generally isn't. This has made the rounds a few times - a quick googling turns up this article from about a year ago: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/11988947/Italian-companies-investigated-for-passing-off-ordinary-olive-oil-as-extra-virgin.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/11988... EDIT: I see @codezero beat me to the punch: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12453683 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12453683

radiorental 10y ago

It could easily have truffle extract in the practical sense but none in the homeopathic sense if you know what I mean.

DonHopkins 10y ago

Maybe it's homeopathic. I've heard of water memory, but is there such a thing as olive oil memory?

WorldMaker 10y ago

I am under the impression that the food term "extract" is generally not very well regulated and says nothing about when or how it was extracted. At least in the US, I don't think the FDA regulates the terminology that heavily, but I may be mistaken. I believe there are some well known flavor extracts that were chemically extracted decades ago and since have been maintained as artificial cultures in various ways (certain types of banana extracts used in candies, for instance). I don't know if truffle extract is one of them, though. I guess more accurately, I don't know if we can tell from just an ingredients list which sort of "extract" it might be, if it's a recent "fresh" extract product or some form of a longer term chemical extraction process. (I think the US FDA, at least, does regulate what constitutes "Natural Flavorings" and so the lack of the word "natural" in packaging could be a sign, maybe.)

matco11 10y ago

What the article states is not true (but - at the same time - it's not false!): it's simple, you can buy "truffle oil" that does not contain truffle, or you can keep your eye sharp (and pay more) and buy oil containing real truffle (I have done both!) Same applies to a lot of food out there. Here is a good example, olive oil: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/is-your-olive-oil-really-olive-oil/ http://www.marksdailyapple.com/is-your-olive-oil-really-oliv... Of course you can buy perfectly genuine, high quality, olive oil, you just need to know how to pick. The same applies to truffle oil. The article is really saying that there are brands out there selling artificially flavored truffle oil (not a great surprise, if you ask me), and it fails to clarify a number of underlying premises it's making (or should be making). For example: 1) it is just not true that truffle is the most expensive food in the world. WHITE truffles are. Black truffles are a lot more common and a lot less expensive. 2) white truffle and black truffle are very different: not only they have a different taste, or grow in different geographies, but you eat them differently. For example you always only eat white truffle raw, while you usually cook black truffle. Truffles oil is normally made with black truffle, because the flavor of white truffle is hard to preserve in olive oil. 3) truffles are an underground mushroom. Like all mushrooms, there are many varieties (beyond the fact that they may be white or black), some are more flavorful than others. Their flavor is also affected by the type of tree they grew on (on the roots), which I think it's quite interesting. 4) black truffles grow in a handful of geographies around the world (the best ones are normally considered to be from France, Italy, or Spain), they last several days so they can be transported relatively easily 5) high quality white truffles come only from one - small -region in Italy, they last only 5-7 days from the moment they are picked and are difficult to transport (without making them spoil). The world's capital of white truffles is here (for October to December): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alba,_Piedmont https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alba,_Piedmont People spend huge sums for white truffles, some get bought for $30k, $40k or even $50k, which are even more astounding amounts, if you consider they are for a rock-like looking mushroom that will flavor one or two meals for you and will otherwise spoil in a few days... Bonus fun trivia: truffles have not been successfully farmed, so they have to picked in the wild. Picking methods are different in different parts of the world: In France they normally use pigs to sniff truffles in the forests. Apparently one of the essences emitted by truffles is similar to sexual feromones in pigs, so they are naturally attracted to them and instinctively dig in the ground for them (but then the truffle picker has to pull The pig away before it the truffle gets eaten). In Italy, they use dogs. It takes years to train a dog to hunt for the smell of truffle (they told me 3-5 years is common), but then dogs do not eat truffles and when they find them, they carefully dig in the ground without breaking the truffle.

SeanLuke 10y ago

> If this article is accurate, it seems like a complete and utter con. It is absolutely true. Except in rare (and usually very expensive) cases, truffle oil does not contain anything made from truffles.

DanBC 10y ago

Something like a "chicken pie" would have to say how much chicken is in the pie. There's an exemption to that rule for ingredients that are used in small quantities for flavour. http://www.food.gov.uk/sites/default/files/multimedia/pdfs/quid.pdf http://www.food.gov.uk/sites/default/files/multimedia/pdfs/q... > An ingredient or category of ingredients which is used in small quantities for the purposes of flavouring > Regulation 19(2)(a)(iii) > 30. This exemption would apply whether or not pictorial representations are included on the label. Labels must comply with Schedule 8 to the Food Labelling Regulations 1996, as amended, concerning the use of the term “flavour” and should not infringe the provisions either of Section 15(1) of the Food Safety Act 1990 (concerning false or misleading indications) or the Trade Descriptions Act 1968. Schedule 8 of The Food Labelling Regulations 1996 say: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1996/1499/contents/made http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1996/1499/contents/made > Any description incorporating the name of a food in such a way as to imply that the food, or the part of a food, being described has the flavour of the food named in the description. > Shall not be applied to any food unless the flavour of the food being described is derived wholly or mainly from the food named in the description, except that any description incorporating the word “chocolate” which is such as to imply that the food being described has a chocolate flavour may be applied to a food which has a chocolate flavour derived wholly or mainly from non fat cocoa solids where the purchaser would not be misled by the description. > This shall not be taken to prevent the use of the word “flavour” preceded by the name of a food when the flavour of the food being described is not wholly or mainly from the food named in the description. I genuinely don't know who regulates this.

NLips 10y ago
England: DEFRA Scotland, Wales, NI: Food Standards Agency See http://tna.europarchive.org/20130513091226/http://www.food.gov.uk/news-updates/news/2010/sep/labelgov http://tna.europarchive.org/20130513091226/http://www.food.g...
TillE 10y ago
> how much chicken is in the pie Yeah, I love the percentages on the ingredients for each item which is mentioned in the name of the product. My only real complaint about EU food labeling is that I wish they were a little more consistent about allergens. Sometimes they're bolded, sometimes only mentioned in a list at the end.

tptacek 10y ago

"Vanilla extract" is often artificial as well. What's more interesting: in its intended application (baked goods), repeated Cooks Illustrated taste tests were unable to distinguish artificial vanilla from the expensive stuff.

objclxt 10y ago
> "Vanilla extract" is often artificial as well. In many countries there are legal requirements for "Vanilla Extract" vis a vis the percentage that comes from vanilla beans, as opposed to "Vanilla Essence", which can and is typically artificial. (I confess I bake a lot)
- semi-extrinsic 10y ago
  No need to "confess"; baking is science for hungry people. ( https://www.topatoco.com/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=TO&Product_Code=QC-BAKING https://www.topatoco.com/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code... )
- logfromblammo 10y ago
  Chemically speaking, synthesized vanillin is indistinguishable from the vanillin extracted from plants. But vanilla plants contain a lot of other flavor/odor chemicals (like anise alcohol/methylguaiacol, p-hydroxybenzaldehyde/trimethylpirazine, p-cresol/anisole, guaiacol, piperonal) in addition to the one primarily chemical (vanillin), which may also be desirable in certain applications, such as foods or perfumes. I would have no problem buying 750 mL of 40% grain alcohol loaded up with sugar and artificial vanillin if I'm gearing up for a giant bake sale or something, but I'd still keep the 10 mL bottle of the real stuff for finishing sauces, frostings, icings, or beverages. Important caveat, though: vanillin derived from engineered bacteria or yeasts may be eligible to be labeled as "natural flavor"!
douche 10y ago
In my experience in the US, it is usually labeled well whether it is artificial or natural. Natural usually costs at least 3x as much artificial.

codesterling 10y ago

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/16/dining/16truf.html?_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/16/dining/16truf.html?_r=0

celticninja 10y ago

I think it is US specific as you could not do that under existing EU laws.

dogma1138 10y ago

You better check what do they define as "extra virgin olive oil" because in many cases it's also not olive oil ;) Oilception.