15 of 27 “extra virgin” olive oils failed a Dutch TV test. Here’s how to check the bottle in your kitchen.

An official tasting panel judged supermarket olive oils sold as extra virgin. More than half weren’t. What the label is supposed to mean, why price is no guarantee, and a one-minute test you can do tonight.

By the Aylam familyOlive growers in Çamoluk, Muğla · October 2026

Olive oil poured over freshly picked green olives — Fresh extra virgin olive oil should smell green and finish with a peppery bite. In the test, more than half the bottles didn’t make the grade.

15 of the 27 “extra virgin” oils tested weren’t extra virgin: 11 were virgin, 4 were lampante.
Every oil under €10 a litre failed, but a bottle at €64,95 a litre failed too.
Extra virgin is a legal grade, judged in a lab and by a tasting panel. The word on the label proves neither.
You can check your own bottle at home in a minute. Here’s how.

What the programme found

On Friday 9 October, Keuringsdienst van Waarde asked a question most of us never think about when we take a bottle off the shelf: is extra virgin olive oil actually extra virgin?

Keuringsdienst van Waarde: “Extra vierge”NPO 1 · Friday 9 October 2026Watch the episode on NPO Start ↗

The programme bought 27 olive oils labelled extra virgin, mostly from Dutch supermarkets, and sent them to the Olijfolie Instituut. There, an officially recognised tasting panel smelled and tasted each one, the same way olive oil is graded across the EU.

Only 12 passed. Eleven turned out to be ‘virgin’, a lower grade with taste defects. Four were lampante: oil that, under EU rules, isn’t fit to eat until it has been refined.

12Extra virginPassed the panel
11VirginTaste defects, a lower grade
4LampanteNot fit to eat until refined

Each bottle is one oil from the test. Source: KRO-NCRV, 9 October 2026.

Price was no guarantee

Every oil under €10 a litre failed. That won’t surprise many people. What did: paying more didn’t protect you either. The programme found no clear link between price and quality.

€10,58per litre: the cheapest oil that passed

€49,90per litre: the most expensive oil that passed

€64,95per litre: a bottle that failed

So the price on the shelf won’t tell you what’s in the bottle. To know that, you need to understand what “extra virgin” is supposed to mean, and which facts the label often leaves out.

What “extra virgin” is supposed to mean

Extra virgin isn’t a marketing word. It’s the top grade in EU law, and an oil has to pass three things to earn it.

Chemistry within strict limits

Free acidity ≤ 0.8%
Peroxide value ≤ 20 meq O₂/kg
UV values K232 ≤ 2.50, K270 ≤ 0.22, which show oxidation or refining

Zero defects, clearly fruity

A trained, officially recognised panel smells and tastes the oil
It must find no defects at all and a fruity taste
This is the test most bottles in the programme failed

Olives only, nothing else

Extracted by mechanical means only
No chemicals, no refining, nothing added
“Cold pressed” only if the oil stays below 27 °C

The three grades, by free acidity

Extra virgin≤ 0.8%, no defects · 12 in the test

Virgin≤ 2.0%, minor defects allowed · 11 in the test

LampanteNot fit to eat unrefined · 4

Limits from EU Regulations 2022/2104 and 29/2012.

A crate of freshly picked green and purple olives — Extra virgin oil is made from olives alone. They’re washed, crushed and kneaded, and the oil is separated by mechanical means. No chemicals, no refining.

Acidity is only half the story. It can be manipulated, which is why the tasting panel has the final word.

Test the bottle in your kitchen

You don’t need a lab to spot most problems. Pour a spoonful into a small glass, cup it in your hand for a minute to warm it, cover it and swirl. Then use the same three senses the panel uses.

Smell

Fresh-cut grass, green apple, tomato leaf
Crayons or putty (rancid), vinegar, mould, a damp cellar, or nothing at all

Taste

Fresh and fruity, with some bitterness on the tongue
Flat, greasy, or no taste at all

Finish

A peppery tickle in your throat, maybe even a cough. That’s the polyphenols.
No bite at all: there’s not much life left in it

Our advice

Don’t judge an olive oil by its price or by the words “extra virgin” alone. Look for a harvest year, a single named origin and a dark bottle, then taste it. Good oil smells green, tastes fruity and leaves a peppery tickle. If it doesn’t, it’s probably not what the label says.

Why we wrote this

We’re the Aylam family. We grow Gemlik olives on a plateau in Çamoluk, in the hills of Muğla, and turn them into olive oil ourselves. The programme didn’t test our oil, so we can’t claim its results.

Olive grove in Çamoluk seen from above, with a harvest net under one of the trees — Our grove in Çamoluk, Muğla, at harvest time. The olives are picked by hand onto nets under the trees.

Fresh olive oil flowing from a stainless steel spout at the mill — Cold pressed at 17 °C: fresh oil at the mill, on the day the olives were picked.

What we can do is show you every number. Here’s how our bottle compares with a typical supermarket bottle.

	Aylam	Typical supermarket bottle
Origin	✓One family grove in Çamoluk, Muğla. One variety: Gemlik.	~Often a blend of “EU oils” or “EU and non-EU oils”.
Harvest year	✓Stated: early harvest 2025.	~Often missing, as the programme pointed out.
From olive to oil	✓The same day.	~Rarely stated.
Pressing temperature	✓17 °C, well under the 27 °C limit.	~“Cold pressed”, rarely with a number.
Free acidity	✓0.3%	~Anything up to 0.8%, rarely on the label.
Polyphenols	✓≥ 450 mg/kg, from early-harvest olives.	~Rarely measured or stated.
Bottle	✓Dark glass that keeps out light.	~Sometimes clear glass or plastic.

The supermarket column describes what’s common on the shelf, not any specific brand.

Every harvest is analysed by an independent laboratory.We check our oil instead of asking you to trust the label.

Gold Award, Muğla Olive Oil Competition 2022–2023.You’ll find the medal on our label.

01Early harvest
Picked while still partly green: less oil, far more polyphenols.
02Same day
From the branch to the mill on the day of picking.
03Cold pressed at 17 °C
Kneaded, separated and filtered. Never heated.
04Dark glass
750 ml, protected from the light that ages oil.

Try it next to the bottle in your cupboard

Aylam Extra Virgin Olive Oil: early-harvest Gemlik olives from our grove, cold pressed the day they’re picked. Apple, tomato and lemon, then the pepper.

0.3% acidity

≥450 mg/kg polyphenols

Pressed at 17 °C

Early harvest 2025

750 ml

One-time purchase750 ml · €33,29 per litre€24,97 Subscribe and save 15%Delivered every month€21,22~~€24,97~~Save 15%

Store cool, dark and closed. Below 10 °C it can turn cloudy; that’s natural and clears at room temperature.

What people are asking after the broadcast

What’s the difference between extra virgin, virgin and lampante?

All three are graded in the lab and by a trained tasting panel. Extra virgin has a free acidity of at most 0.8% and no taste defects at all. Virgin may have up to 2.0% and minor defects. Lampante has higher acidity or serious defects, and under EU rules isn’t fit to eat until it’s refined.

Does a higher price mean better olive oil?

Not on its own. In the test, every oil under €10 a litre failed, but a bottle at €64,95 a litre failed too. Look for facts instead: a harvest year, one named origin, the acidity, the polyphenols and a dark bottle. Then taste it.

Why does good olive oil taste bitter and peppery?

The bitterness and the peppery tickle in your throat come from polyphenols, natural compounds that are highest in early-harvest olives. Oil that tastes flat and greasy has usually lost most of them.

Is “cold pressed” just a marketing term?

No, it’s regulated. Under EU rules it may only be used when the oil is extracted below 27 °C. Ours is pressed at 17 °C, on the day the olives are picked.

How should I store olive oil?

Cool, dark and with the cap closed, because light, heat and air are what age olive oil. Below 10 °C it can turn cloudy or even solid. That’s natural and it clears again at room temperature.

Can I cook with extra virgin olive oil?

Yes. It’s at its best raw, over salads, soups and warm bread, but it works in the pan too. Medium heat keeps the aroma and the character.

Was Aylam olive oil part of the Keuringsdienst van Waarde test?

No. The programme tested 27 olive oils from Dutch supermarkets and shops, and Aylam wasn’t one of them. That’s why we show our own numbers on this page, so you can judge for yourself.

Where do Aylam’s olives come from?

From our family grove in Çamoluk, a village in Muğla (ancient Caria) in south-west Türkiye. The Gemlik trees grow on a plateau surrounded by pine forest, are fed with natural manure and are never sprayed with chemical pesticides.

15 of 27 “extra virgin” olive oils failed a Dutch TV test. Here’s how to check the bottle in your kitchen.

What the programme found

Price was no guarantee