Most avocado-oil products are adulterated with other, cheaper oils, study finds

Avocado oil has become a go-to for health-oriented snacks and condiments and consumers increasingly pay a premium for them. A new study is raising questions about the veracity of ingredient claims on chip bags, salad dressings and mayo bottles. Researchers at the University of California, Davis found that 89 per cent of processed foods supposedly “made with avocado oil” actually contain other oils — despite avocado being the only oil listed on the package.

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The study published in Applied Food Research analyzed 54 avocado oil-labelled products purchased this year and last from online retailers and California stores. It found that 48 had been adulterated with cheaper oils.

Salad dressings were the worst offenders, with 100 per cent of the products tested containing oils other than avocado. Chips were next at 93 per cent, followed by mayonnaise at 71 per cent. For the sake of comparison, the researchers also tested olive oil-labelled products. They fared better, with all the dressing and mayo samples passing the purity tests and 90 per cent of the chips.

The researchers note that consumers typically pay more for avocado and olive oil products than for those made with vegetable oil.

Retail prices for chips made with avocado oil, for instance, were 223 per cent higher at the top end than for those containing vegetable oil. Olive oil products were comparable in price to their avocado counterparts, sometimes a bit less, though they were much more likely to live up to their labelling.

“(Consumers) deserve to get what they pay for, and food manufacturers deserve confidence that the ingredients they purchase from suppliers are authentic,” lead author Selina Wang, professor of cooperative extension in the UC Davis Department of Food Science and Technology, said in a statement.

North America is the leading region for avocado oil, accounting for 38 per cent market share, according to Persistence Market Research. The market is driven by a “strong health and wellness culture, high consumer awareness and widespread adoption across food processing and foodservice.”

The authenticity of olive oil has been studied for decades. Avocado oil, on the other hand, is a relatively new product and hasn’t been subject to the same level of scrutiny, the researchers highlight.

Most studies have focused on bottled avocado oils — not oils used as ingredients in processed foods. Their latest investigation is part of a series. In 2020 research, UC Davis scientists found that 82 per cent of commercially sold bottles were rancid or adulterated with other oils, and in 2023, they found that 70 per cent of private-label avocado oils were spoiled or mixed.

The new findings suggest that product ingredient claims may be an understudied form of economically motivated food fraud.

Avocado oil costs US$4-5 per pound (454 grams) while seed oils cost US$0.50-1.50, according to a statement by Adams Group, an American avocado oil refinery whose Marianne’s avocado oil was one of two brands that tested 100 per cent pure in the 2020 research.

“A purity claim is only as good as the supplier behind it,” said Wayne Adams, CEO of Adams Group.

The brands whose products failed the purity tests may be unwittingly using adulterated oil, Wang said, noting that the falsification likely starts with suppliers. Food companies often source their oils from various suppliers and brokers. The only way to verify their authenticity is through testing, which Wang said food companies could do more of.

“If consumers are buying potato chips that say they’re made with 100 per cent avocado oil, that should be the product that they’re getting,” said Wang. “I don’t think there is enough accountability throughout the supply chain. Suppliers of adulterated oil may be hiding behind a couple of layers of supply chain, making it difficult to identify where the problem originated.”

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