Why in the US can sell a no calories olive oil and 0% fat?

No calories olive oil

In the rest of the world, it would be impossible! 🙂 Extra virgin olive oil is very healthy but, like all oils, it is pure vegetable fat, and therefore one of the products with the most calories that exists.

Although the caloric content by itself is not always the most important thing, what does not seem very logical is that we can find an oil whose label reads “zero calories” and “0% fat”. And yet it exists: it is sold as a spray in the United States and is completely legal. At least here…:-)

This curious case plays with the legislation and is one of the tricks that the food industry and the labeling

The industry is not stupid and knows that it risks a lot if the current legislation is not complied with, but you can always take advantage of the limits of it.

And even today there are still products whose labeling is illegal, or at least not as legal as it could be, regulations in hand.

But even though, how is it possible to sell an extra virgin olive oil without fat and without calories? The trick is not in the ingredients, since it is 100% oil, but in the format of its labeling.

Actually, it takes advantage of the US regulations, less clear in terms of nutritional information than the ones in Europe and in many other countries.

Nutritional Labeling

While in the rest of the EU countries, the nutritional information must always be indicated per 100g or 100ml, being able to add details about the recommended consumption portion, in the United States it is the manufacturer who chooses what “a portion of consumption” is.

In case of the spray bottle, one portion corresponds to pressing it for 1/3 second. And they have calculated that only 0.25g of oil is sprayed in that pulsation, generously rounding down, of course…:-), it would be just about 2kcal, but US regulations allow to indicate that they are zero. And the same goes for fat.

Therefore, theoretically, even if you need to spray 1,000 times (1,000 x 0Kcal and 0Fat = 0) you will still get 0!! Which is simply completely wrong, and at the same time very unethical, even though legal…:-( The same thing happens with many US food products, labelled “light” and being actually really caloric! That is why it is important to have an average reference value, such as 100g, that describes faithfully its caloric content.

The fake labeling of food products still has many issues to improve

Extra Virgin Olive Oil