6 ms·

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

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.

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.