Dive Brief:
- Better-for-you brands owned by PepsiCo and Kraft Heinz have been subpoenaed as part of a Texas investigation into whether products made with avocado oil are adulterated with cheaper oils.
- Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton launched the investigation this week following a study from the University of California, Davis, that found 89% of processed foods claiming to be made with avocado oil contained other oils.
- The attorney general has requested more information from PepsiCo's Siete Foods, Kraft Heinz-owned Primal Kitchen and mayonnaise and salad dressing manufacturer Chosen Foods.
Dive Insight:
The Texas investigation is being positioned as a probe into whether food companies are failing to disclose use of seed oils, a major target of the Make America Healthy Again movement and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Kennedy and others in the MAHA movement have linked canola, sunflower and other oils extracted from the seeds of plants to inflammation, a claim that has been largely debunked by nutritional scientists. More companies have still introduced products without seed oils to position them as healthier alternatives, relying more on ingredients such as olive oil, avocado oil and beef tallow.
Avocado oil is a "relatively new and expensive product category," according to UC Davis, and hasn't been researched at the same level as olive oil. The university's study found that 93% of chips, 71% of mayonnaises and 100% of salad dressings labeled as authentic avocado oil contained other oils. In comparison, only one out of 20 olive oil-labeled processed foods failed the study's purity test.
Brands tested in the UC Davis study include the companies subpoenaed by Paxton, plus other snack products such as Hershey's Lesser Evil, Utz-owned Boulder Canyon and Tostitos made with avocado oil under PepsiCo's Simply line. The study said that many brands whose products failed may not know they are using adulterated oil and that the issue likely lies with suppliers.
"Consumers are increasingly paying a premium for products made with avocado oil or olive oil,” lead author Selina Wang, professor of cooperative extension in the UC Davis Department of Food Science and Technology, said in a statement. "They deserve to get what they pay for and food manufacturers deserve confidence that the ingredients they purchase from suppliers are authentic."
The Texas investigation will determine whether food makers violated state law by misleading consumers and fraudulently mislabeled products, adding that more companies may be subpoenaed as the probe continues.
Primal Kitchen, the better-for-you pantry staple brand bought by Kraft Heinz for $200 million in 2018, said in a statement posted to social media that it takes the concerns raised by the UC Davis study "very seriously." The study relied on the CODEX test to determine purity, with Primal Kitchen saying products with pure avocado oil can still fail that test based on factors like the type of avocado, how it's grown and the ripeness of the fruit.
"We source our avocado oil from trusted suppliers who confirm the oil's integrity through independent, third-party laboratory testing," Primal Kitchen said in a statement. "We are confident in our ingredients but continuously review our supply chain."
