New book is 'extra virgin'

Fraud, deception and crime sounds like a plot from a mystery novel.

But this book, author Tom Mueller said during a stop in Corning Wednesday, is a "game-changer" in the world of olive oils.

Mueller told people gathered at Lucero Olive Oil's tasting room that the book, "Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil," exposes a story of fraud, deception and crime in the world of olive oil and defends the oils that truly deserved to be called "extra virgin."

Mueller's book could be of great value to Corning, which boasts to be "The Center of the Olive Universe," and a town where several olive oil companies grow and harvest their own olives, and then mill them locally into oil fresh from the orchard.

Having lived in Italy for 10 years, Mueller was able to gain an international education on the olive oil industry, and found it to be wrought with falsehoods.

This is his first book.

"I found this to be a fun, but challenging topic. I researched the heights as well as the depths of the industry. I quickly learned that the label of 'extra-virgin' can mean nothing on a bottle of olive oil," said Mueller, a freelance writer for 20 years.

Throughout the world he found extra-virgin olive oil that was anything but.

"Sometimes I found companies, big name companies on grocery shelves, that actually put very little olive oil in their bottled olive oil," he explained.

He said those companies would use other oil products and mix it with a little olive oil, deodorize it and label it as "extra-virgin."

Mueller uses terms such as adulterated and deodorized to describe some of the fraudulent practices of unscrupulous olive oil producers.

"I came here to Lucero Olive Oil to see exactly how they mill their oils. The subject has become a passion of mine," Mueller said.

He hopes to educate the public on the olive oil industry and help consumers make knowledgeable olive oil purchases.

His book goes hand-in-hand with the current movement, "Buy local, buy fresh," that encourages people to buy what they can from local growers and producers so they know exactly what they are getting and where it came from.

"Unfortunately, right now the U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not consider the regulation of olive oil a high priority," Mueller said. "That is why people need to educated on what they are buying or they are just wasting their money."

Currently, the only quality regulator in California is the California Olive Oil Council which conducts tests on olive oil and for those which pass, authorize a seal that can be placed on the bottled product, certifying it as "extra-virgin."

Lucero said all of their products are tested and carry the seal.

Mueller also personally signed 50 of his books that were available at the event, after receiving a tour of Lucero's olive oil mill.