Is That Food Really Made With 100% Avocado Oil? Likely Not

Avocado oil is having a moment. Browse the aisles of the grocery store, and you’ll find packaged goods like chips, salad dressings and mayonnaise all boasting that they’re made with avocado oil. But a new study finds that consumers who are paying a premium for these foods are probably not getting what they think they’re buying.

And at a time when consumer interest in avocado oil is growing because of its perceived health benefits, the findings add to evidence of widespread authenticity problems in the industry.

“If you’re buying avocado oil products, it’s very likely that you’re not getting what you’re paying for,” says Selina Wang, a professor of food science at the University of California, Davis and the lead author of the study, which appears in the journal Applied Food Research.

In the study, Wang and her colleagues purchased 54 products that listed avocado oil as the only oil used and submitted them to chemical analysis. The vast majority — 89% — showed signs of being adulterated with other cheaper oils, such as soybean oil. She says one sample appeared to have basically no avocado oil in it. And price did not correlate with the authenticity of the oil. (UC Davis has posted the full list of products tested and the results.)