Avocado Oil: The Ol' Switcheroo

Buying processed foods is a rarity for me, but when I do, I scan labels to make sure they contain wholesome ingredients. Turns out, that was shortsighted. Although I've questioned the validity of food labels for years, suspecting deception is one thing. Finding out it's actually true, really burns my biscuit!

In July, the University of California Davis Lab reported that many food labels touting 100% avocado oil, are actually spliced with canola, corn, safflower, soybean, sunflower and other types of inflammatory seed oils, which health-conscious consumers like myself, specifically seek to avoid.

These UC Davis researchers bought 54 products off store shelves in 2025-2026 (chips, mayonnaise, salad dressings, taco shells, etc) that were labeled as using avocado oil as the sole oil ingredient. They ran each one through chemical testing that showed the specific mix of fatty acids and sterols unique to each type of oil. They found that 48 of the 54 avocado oil products were adulterated with cheap oils.

Results broken down by category and brand:

• 93% of chips tested, failed - Bolder Canyon, Lesser Evil, Siete, Kettle, Sprouts, Bettergoods, Jackson's, Sensible Portions.
• 71% of mayonnaises tested, failed - Betterbody Foods, Primal Kitchen, Chosen Foods, Sir Kensingtons and various store brands.
• 100% of salad dressings tested, failed - Chosen Foods, Primal Kitchen, Sprouts, BetterBody Foods.

The researchers questioned if perhaps, deep-frying a chip or blending a mayo could scramble an oil's chemical signature and create false positives. So they tested that by frying and emulsifying oils themselves to see results. There were no significant changes. They also weren't being strict about it. They gave the samples some wiggle room (about 10%) to account for the fact that avocados from different regions and varieties naturally vary a little. But still, 89% of the avocado oil products failed.

There's at least three reasons this is happening.

1. There are no legal standards or regulations. Unlike olive oil, that has strict international standards (grades, acidity levels and purity thresholds), avocado oil has none of that. Meaning that, any company can pour a blend of oils into a bottle, slap 100% Avocado Oil on the label and it's technically not breaking any rule, because there aren't any rules.
2. The fraud is undetectable. Seed oils like canola and soybean are odorless and colorless once refined. You can't smell it, taste it or see it.
3. Deception is profitable. Pure avocado oil runs about $4 to $5 a pound. Seed oils cost as little as 50 cents. Obviously someone in the chain is pocketing the difference, whether that's a supplier, a broker or the brand itself.

It's possible that food brands aren't aware. But as consumers we have no way of knowing because this information is not accessible to the public. The lead researcher in this particular study, assigned at least part of the blame further up the supply chain since most food brands don't grow or press their own oil. They buy it from brokers and suppliers, sometimes several layers removed and simply trust the paperwork. Without independent lab testing, which most companies don't do, a brand might not know the avocado oil they're using is fake. Call me crazy, but isn't it a company's responsibility to know exactly what's being put into their products? Sounds like a game of pass-the-buck to me.

Unfortunately, this is nothing new. Back in 2020, UC Davis tested commercially bottled avocado oil and found 82% were either rancid or blended with cheaper oils. A follow-up private-label study found roughly 70% were rancid or adulterated, with UC Davis noting in three cases, bottles labeled pure or extra virgin avocado oil contained nearly 100% soybean oil! Chosen Foods was one of only two brands that came back completely pure. Fast forward to this 2026 study, and every single Chosen Foods product tested, failed. Same company name, different result six years later. For what it's worth, Chosen Foods, has publicly denied ever adding seed oils to their products. That denial could be entirely sincere, with the issue ocurring upstream with their suppliers. That's what investigators are now trying to sort out.

As of a couple weeks ago, after these test results were made known, the Texas Attorney General has launched an industry-wide formal investigation into avocado oil labeling, issuing legal demands to Primal Kitchen, Siete Foods and Chosen Foods, with more brands expected. Separate, class-action lawsuits have already been filed against retailers like Walmart and Aldi over their avocado oil products.

So how can we be sure we're feeding our families healthy food, with all this bogus labeling going on? It's clear that price isn't a helpful indicator. Sure, rock-bottom pricing is a red flag, but paying a premium obviously isn't a purity guarantee either. I mean, one would think that spending $11.99 for a small pint jar of Sir Kensington's avocado oil mayonnaise would at least guarantee real avocado oil. But it doesn't.

Here are a couple things to keep in mind while shopping:

1. Look for third-party purity certification, like the Seed Oil Free Certified mark, which requires actual lab testing rather than just a company's word.
2. Buy organic, extra virgin olive oil instead. In the same study, UC Davis tested 20 olive oil products the same way. Only one lot, from one brand (Boulder Canyon) failed. Decades of stricter regulation and scrutiny seems to be working.

Whether erroneous labeling counts as fraud in the legal sense remains to be seen. Meanwhile for us, the consumer standing in the grocery aisle, these ingredient labels are nothing but a false sense of security. Nearly 9 out of 10 products claiming 100% avocado oil weren't. Until an actual legal standard exists, the best thing we can do is stop throwing our money away (along with our health), and start making our own condiments (catsup, marinara sauce, mustard, pizza sauce, pickles, relish, salsa, taco sauce, teriyaki sauce, bbq sauce, salad dressings) and snacks. To show just how easy it is to do, here's my favorite mayo recipe:

Homemade Mayonnaise

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup LIGHT olive oil
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp powdered mustard
• 1 healthy pinch of salt
• 1 T lemon juice
• 1/4 tsp garlic grandules - optional

Instructions

1. Put all ingredients into a mason jar.
2. Using an immersion blender, pulse a few times to emulsify; then increase speed for 20 seconds to fully incorporate.
3. Store in refrigerator for up to 4 weeks.