A new standard for olive oil?

kw: observations, food, cooking

I was taken aback by seeing a new Crisco advertisement that promotes three kinds of olive oil for three purposes. The three Crisco grades are Extra Virgin, Pure, and Light. E-V is touted for salads and other "cold" uses, Pure for sauteing, and Light for highest temperature use.

Let me say at the outset that I've used only extra virgin olive oil for decades, for all purposes, with no problems. I suspect this is a marketing scheme to get us to have three bottles of product where one will do.

According to Pacific Sun, extra virgin olive oil has these characteristics:

"In scientific terms Extra Virgin olive oil is oil that has a free fatty acid percentage of less than 1%.

"In order to be Extra Virgin olive oil must be extracted only from olives, the fruit of the olive tree, and can not undergo any treatment other than washing, decanting, centrifuging and filtering. It excludes oils obtained by the use of solvent extraction or re-esterification methods, and those mixed with oils from other sources."

Their web site describes all the accepted grades of olive oil. "Pure" and "Light" are not among them, although "Lite" is, as a designation of certain mixed oils.

Will Crisco succeed in their attempt to set up a new naming standard? They may, but I hope not.