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Recall campaigns (recalls) can be initiated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), or voluntarily by the manufacturer. Although there is a well-established system for these operations, the past years have seen some very strange recalls (ranging from a dead bat in a packaged salad to bullets in apple sauce). In 2024 alone, several major recalls were carried out involving chocolate contaminated with salmonella and a possible outbreak of Listeria bacteria in ice cream.
But with regard to cooking oils, recalls often occur when a product characteristic is considered unsafe or misleading, with varying degrees of severity. For example, the label may cause a distortion in the ingredients of the oil leading to allergic reactions, or the oil may be exposed to bacterial contamination. Although this may seem alarming, recalls ultimately encourage companies to be more cautious and prioritize customer safety, ensuring that oils are safer for consumption in the long term. Quality control also plays a major role in the oil industry, especially olive oil, which is frequently checked for purity due to its high price, which sometimes leads some companies to reduce costs illegally.
In April 2024, a company withdrew Primal Kitchen More than 2000 packs of avocado oil were volunteered after warehouse workers reported oil leaks inside shipping containers due to the crash of some bottles. After a quick investigation, the company determined that the bottles were susceptible to breakage, and the recall campaign was announced immediately. However, some packs were already shipped to customers online and sold in stores in California and Eastern states. Consumers were asked to throw away the product and contact the company for a refund. Fortunately, no injuries were reported.
Packing-related recalls are rare in the food industry. A few months after the Primal Kitchen incident, Walmart recalled more than 12,000 packs of Great Value chicken broth due to packaging issues that exposed the product to corruption. As of February 2025, Primal Kitchen has not recorded other incidents, and its products continue to receive high ratings from online stores, indicating that the company has succeeded in containing the crisis thanks to its quick response and transparency.
Deoleo USA, the world's largest olive oil manufacturer (responsible for brands such as Bertoli and Carapelli), experienced two important voluntary recalls with a difference of less than a year, in November 2015 and March 2016. The first recall involved Extra Light Tasting and Classico Pure Olive Oil sold in the United States between January and May 2015, after early oxidation was discovered that may affect the smell and taste of the oil. Although the company asserted that the move was precautionary, the oils were threatened with corruption before the expiration date.
In March 2016, the company started another recall due to safety concerns for the same species after the discovery of the presence of Tebuconazole and Trifloxystrobin pesticides, which are prohibited for use in foods in the United States. Deoleo noted that the pollution came from a refining supplier and took quick action. In both cases, customers were able to get their money back.
And these were not the only incidents Deoleo has faced. In 2018, the company agreed to pay $7 million in the settlement of a class-action lawsuit after being accused of misleading consumers by labeling “extra virgin olive oil” and “imported from Italy”, although this was inaccurate. Despite denying the violations, the company chose to settle to avoid the continuation of the case.
In 1993, the FDA ordered the recall of olive oil products belonging to Rubino USA (Cincinnati, Ohio), after it was proven that the labels of some of its products were falsified. Consumers were misled about ten different types of olive oils, including Rubino Extra Virgin and blend oils of olive oil and canola oil. In some cases, full gallon bottles were labeled “100% pure olive oil”, while actually containing canola oil without disclosing it. It was even found that some of the advertised 50/50 blends contained much more canola oil.
As a result, more than 200,000 Rubino products have been recalled nationwide. This was not the last scandal for Rubino. In the early 2000s, she was again accused — along with Bertoli and Carapelli — of putting “extra virgin” labels on oils that did not meet quality standards, after tests that showed high levels of acidity.
Olive oil scandals continue to spread globally, with cases of olive oil fraud setting records in the EU by the beginning of 2024.
Source: Yahoo Life
