It's known for being a heart-healthy choice in the kitchen, but certain bottles may have been filled with a completely different oil.
A Popular Cooking Oil Has Been Recalled in One State
Published on Jul. 11, 2025
There’s been a lot of recent chatter about the usage of seed oils in the kitchen, particularly about how good for you—or not good—certain types can be. But there’s one cooking oil that consistently rises to the top of health expert recommendations: extra virgin olive oil, which is full of antioxidants and has been known to provide benefits such as a lower risk of heart disease, according to the Cleveland Clinic. Its historical usage is also likely one reason some Mediterranean countries are home to relatively high populations of centenarians.
But a recent recall notice suggests that some customers who thought they were purchasing olive oil may have inadvertently ended up with one of the most questioned seed oils instead.
On Thursday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) alerted the public to the recall of 10 cases of extra virgin olive oil from the brand Daniele. The reason behind the recall indicates that the products may not actually contain olive oil. Says the report: “Product is likely Canola Oil, not Extra Virgin Olive Oil.”
In the past we’ve reported that canola oil is named such because it’s short for “Canadian oil, low acid.” From a 2021 The Healthy report:
“In the 1960s, Canadian plant breeders used traditional breeding methods to reduce erucic acid and glucosinolates in the rapeseed plant to safe, edible levels.”
(Erucic acid was linked to fatty deposits in the hearts of lab animals. Glucosinolates in rapeseed meal fed to animals were thought to contribute to liver disease and interfere with their growth and weight gain.)
[Its name was developed] after the acronym “Canadian oil, low acid.”
Today, most canola oil—more than 90 percent of the canola in the U.S.—stems from genetically modified seeds. “This genetic engineering has been used to provide the plants with a tolerance to specific herbicides,” says Julie Harrington, RD, co-author of The Healing Soup Cookbook.
The affected olive oil-labeled products are said to have been distributed in New York.
The FDA shared these details about the recalled items:
- Product name: Daniele brand First Cold Press EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL
- Net Weight: 101.4 FL. OZ. (3 QT. 5.4 FL. OZ.) 3L
- Imported
- Ingredient: EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL
- Product contains select high quality Extra Virgin Olive Oil from the countries: I=Italy, E=Spain, GR=Greece; TN=Tunisia
- UPC: 036821110116
- Best-by date: 08/08/26
- Lot #: 4221
- Distributed by: D.F.S. International, Ltd., Springfield, MA
The FDA says the listed distributor, D.F.S. International, Ltd., as the recalling firm. The company apparently first initiated the recall on January 6.
However, though the enforcement report shows the recall has been marked as “completed,” it wasn’t until this week that the FDA labeled it as a Class III event. A Class III recall refers to a situation that is unlikely to cause health issues, but “fail to comply with FDA labeling or manufacturing regulations.”
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