date:May 13, 2013
Responding to growing concerns about mislabelling of olive oil, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced a new assay test to ascertain whether oil is pure or not.
USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) chemist Talwinder Kahlons assay relies on PCR (polymerase chain reaction) technology to compare olive DNA to that of canola and sunflower plants. Oil from these plants is sometimes mixed with olive oil, but not disclosed on the label. ARS is the principal intramural scientific rese