4 ms·

I would imagine that a product labeled as avocado oil which contains no avocado oil at all is illegal already even without a standard of identity. The food safe

I would imagine that a product labeled as avocado oil which contains no avocado oil at all is illegal already even without a standard of identity. The food safety laws have general provisions for adulteration and misbranding, and products doing this are probably lying on the label and ingredient list. Ones where there's half some other oil or something along those lines, maybe less clear-cut. Depending on the labeling that might or might not be illegal. And whether the FDA feels confident or interested in going after any of this is a whole other story.

maxerickson 5y ago
Right, "hopefully it isn't quite the case", but the article states that the FDA can't regulate the authenticity of the oil. Like I'd be on board with banning the import of goods from companies that employ people that were principles at a business found to be adulterating food. Throw them out of the industry entirely the first time they get caught. Probably hard to enforce, but I'd be fine with that being the law.
- zerocrates 5y ago
  What the article states is not necessarily true though. They definitely do have existing authorities on misbranding and adulteration that work for nonstandardized foods. The quote from the researcher is that "But because there are no standards to determine if an avocado oil is of the quality and purity advertised, no one is regulating false or misleading labels." I'm sure there's truth here when it comes to oxidation and rancidity, more detailed characteristics like that, or claims of "extra virgin" which I'm not sure are defined to mean anything at all for avocado oil. But the article's un-cited statement "Without standards, the FDA has no means to regulate avocado oil quality and authenticity," I'd want something more backing that up, particularly as to authenticity. I'm not convinced at all that the FDA really lacks the tools to police that what claims to be avocado oil merely is (or at least contains) avocado oil, if they wanted to. The statues and regulations on the names of foods and the accuracy of the ingredient list, they have those tools already. It's possible a standard or something similar might be needed for some other quality issues, or to enforce some meaning behind common marketing terms like "extra virgin," though.

maxerickson 5y ago

Right, "hopefully it isn't quite the case", but the article states that the FDA can't regulate the authenticity of the oil. Like I'd be on board with banning the import of goods from companies that employ people that were principles at a business found to be adulterating food. Throw them out of the industry entirely the first time they get caught. Probably hard to enforce, but I'd be fine with that being the law.

zerocrates 5y ago
What the article states is not necessarily true though. They definitely do have existing authorities on misbranding and adulteration that work for nonstandardized foods. The quote from the researcher is that "But because there are no standards to determine if an avocado oil is of the quality and purity advertised, no one is regulating false or misleading labels." I'm sure there's truth here when it comes to oxidation and rancidity, more detailed characteristics like that, or claims of "extra virgin" which I'm not sure are defined to mean anything at all for avocado oil. But the article's un-cited statement "Without standards, the FDA has no means to regulate avocado oil quality and authenticity," I'd want something more backing that up, particularly as to authenticity. I'm not convinced at all that the FDA really lacks the tools to police that what claims to be avocado oil merely is (or at least contains) avocado oil, if they wanted to. The statues and regulations on the names of foods and the accuracy of the ingredient list, they have those tools already. It's possible a standard or something similar might be needed for some other quality issues, or to enforce some meaning behind common marketing terms like "extra virgin," though.