Olive Oil

The market for edible oils is expanding. The five most popular types of oil are vegetable, rapeseed, sunflower, coconut and olive oil.

Vegetable/rapeseed and olive oils are bought by about four in ten people, while a third buy sunflower oils. Demand for coconut oil has grown rapidly in recent years, although it is still only purchased by 7% of consumers. 2017/18 saw demand dip slightly, although only time will tell if this is a trend.

Olive oil brands

The supermarkets have a strong presence in the olive oil market, their own brands collectively holding 53% market share. The two non-supermarket brands that dominate the market are Filippo Berio, owned by the Bright Food Group, and Napolina, owned by Mitsubishi. Those that top our table are generally smaller brands, which, if you cannot find at your local wholefood shop, can usually be bought online.

We recommend you buy organic olive oils, and organic oil is common in the olive oil market, so there is plenty to choose from, with around half of the big supermarkets offering organic own-brand choices too.

Table highlights

Bio Planete and Organico brands both lost a whole mark under the Animal Rights category, as Organico Realfoods Ltd also owns Fish4Ever, which sells tinned fish. Although the brand prides itself on selling sustainable fish, any company that sells meat or fish is marked down.

The following companies received Ethical Consumer’s worst rating for likely use of tax avoidance strategies: Asda, Archer Daniels Midland, Bright Food Group, Lidl, Marks & Spencer, Mitsubishi, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, and Waitrose.

Olive oil production

Sadly, the UK produces no olives of its own, and so it relies solely on imports. In 2001, the value of olive oil imports to the UK was worth £57m; but, by 2017, this had increased to £219m, although some of this is price inflation, with 2017 seeing olive prices spike due to droughts that affected major producer countries across the Mediterranean. Brexit, should it occur, will likely increase olive oil prices still further.

The Mediterranean basin is home to about 95% of the olive trees in the world, so production of olive oil stems primarily from southern Europe, North Africa and the Near East. EU countries account for 70 to 75% of world production of olive oil, with Spain providing 59% of the EU total in 2017, followed by Italy (25%), Portugal (7%) and Greece (7%). Olive oil has been produced in and around the Mediterranean for thousands of years. Production is generally categorised into three methods: traditional or extensive, semi-intensive, and super-intensive.

Traditional methods of production are characterised by low levels of labour and agricultural inputs, such as water, pesticides and fertilisers, and low tree density. Intensive or super-intensive olive farming generally consists of several factors: high-density plantation (up to 2500 trees per hectare), generally located on flat areas; high inputs of fertilisers and pesticides; huge water inputs and irrigation systems; and the mechanisation of pruning and harvesting.

Olive harvesting and bird deaths

In May 2019 research from Portugal’s Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests estimated that millions of birds were being killed around the Mediterranean as a result of super-intensive, night-time olive harvesting.

Night-time harvesting is done because the cool temperatures better preserve the olive flavours. However, the super-intensive machines used suck up countless numbers of birds, many of which use the trees as a resting place while on their migratory journey between Europe and North Africa. 

It has been estimated that in Andalusia 2.6 million birds die each year due to this method of harvesting, while in Portugal the number is 96,000. 

Similar practices are also used elsewhere in Europe such as France and Italy, though bird death numbers there are not currently known.
 

Which oil is bird friendly?

Ethical Consumer contacted all the companies that we had examined in our recent Olive Oil guide to ask if they could guarantee that their olive oil was not made using the super-intensive, night-time harvesting methods that led to great numbers of bird deaths.

The following table show companies that responded to our question.

*These companies stated that any super-intensive nocturnal harvesting methods found in their supply chains would be stopped before next harvesting season.

Does buying organic guarantee the oil is bird-friendly?

Ethical Consumer contacted the Soil Association about the issue, to see if their organic stamp guaranteed the exclusion of super-intensive nocturnal harvesting methods. The simple answer: no. 

According to the Soil Association, “The organic approach favours the use of traditional methods and the use of people, not machines.” 
However, this is no guarantee that machine methods have not been used. The Soil Association states: “our standards do not exclude the use of heavy machinery in organic farming.”

The Association also gave the following statement:

“The main thing to note is that these methods are unlikely to comply with basic EU legislation on protection of birds. The Soil Association accreditation means that farms will have been subject to an additional check for compliance with organic legislation, which as mentioned, includes specific provisions on protection of the environment. So if people want assurance on the issue, organic is probably as good as they can get.”

Do these bird-killing methods of olive harvest contravene EU legislation?

Ethical Consumer contacted an EU representative to find out whether the super-intensive nocturnal harvesting methods went against EU legislation, such as the Bird Directive. The following statement was received: 

“All wild bird species naturally occurring in the EU are strictly protected by EU legislation... If high-intensity olive harvesting during night hours is known to lead to the killing or to significant disturbance of birds, there is a duty for the competent authorities in those member states to address this problem under provisions set out in the Conservation of Wild Birds Directive.”

The representative stated that the EU is currently discussing the issues with the Member States so that the practice can be properly addressed.

Conclusions: what should consumers do to avoid super-intensive night time olive harvesting?

In order to make sure you are not buying olive oil that uses super-intensive night-time harvesting, we recommend you buy from the companies in the table above that guaranteed their olive oil was not made using these methods. Most of these companies were also listed as overall Best Buys in our Olive Oil guide for their social and environmental responsibility over a wide range of issues.

We also recommend you buy organic. Although it does not guarantee the exclusion of heavy machinery in olive harvesting, it means that its use is unlikely. Buying organic also means that other sustainability factors have been addressed, for example, that no toxic pesticides and herbicides have been used.

Going forward for cruelty-free olives

Many companies have stated that they will be working with suppliers to stop the practice of super-intensive nocturnal olive harvesting.

It also looks likely that the EU will be looking to address this issue at a higher level. Ideally, they will ban the practice outright.

We will keep you informed on future developments around this issue.

How do cooking oils compare?

So, which type of oil should the ethical consumer buy? We would argue that the main issue is not which type of oil but, rather, which brand.

There are, however, some factors that may influence your decision on type. When it comes to greenhouse gas emissions, the difference is not that significant, particularly as oil is itself likely to be a very small portion of your carbon footprint, although coconut oil produces the lowest emissions and olive oil the highest, as shown:

If you are wanting to buy from UK farmers, then rapeseed is really your only option, although supplies of organic UK rapeseed are few and far between. Generally speaking, the vegetable oils rapeseed and sunflower oil use the most pesticides and fertilisers, but this can be avoided through the purchasing of organic oil.

The environmental impact of five different oils

The table above gives an idea of the typical environmental impacts in the production of five crops used to produce widely used oils.

Fertilisers are generally used for all crops but are relied upon least in the production of coconuts and palm fruit. The production of coconuts and palm fruit also requires extremely few pesticides. This explains why organic coconut is so widely available.

Olive production generally uses a notable amount of pesticide, but this figure is relatively low in comparison to the amount used in the production of rapeseed and sunflower oil. Organic rapeseed and sunflower oils are available but are less common than organic olive or coconut oils.

It could be deduced from this table that the oil with the least environmental impact is palm oil, due to its high yield and low amounts of fertilisers and pesticides used. There is some truth in this, and its high yield is one reason, alongside its versatility, why it has been favoured by so many companies.

However, thus far palm oil has been produced in an incredibly unsustainable way, resulting in the mass destruction of habitat.