Study Finds 89% of Labeled ‘Avocado Oil’ Products Not ‘Authentic’

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The Trump Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has launched a landmark food policy that will require greater federal oversight of substances added to human or animal food labeled as “Generally Recognized as Safe” (GRAS) – a loophole established by Congress in 1958.

Since then, food and chemical manufacturers have been allowed “to reach their own conclusions that certain substances are generally recognized as safe under the conditions of their intended use,” HHS noted last week in a press release.

“Although the FDA has long operated voluntary notification programs, companies have not been required to notify the agency when making these determinations,” the agency revealed.

The proposed rule would make GRAS notifications “mandatory” and allow for greater transparency in the effort to reinforce the FDA’s ability to oversee ingredients in the nation’s food supply.

In February, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. spoke to CBS’s 60 Minutes about the GRAS exemption and why it should be reformed.

“That loophole was hijacked by the industry, and it was used to add thousands upon thousands of new ingredients into our food supply,” he said. “In Europe, there’s only 400 legal ingredients. This agency does not know how many ingredients there are in American food … The estimates are between 4,000 and 10,000. We have no idea what they are … There is no way for any American to know if a product is safe, if it is ultra- processed.”

According to an HHS “fact sheet,” the proposed rule specifically:

• requires manufacturers to notify the FDA when concluding that the use of a substance added to human or animal food is GRAS;
• expands the existing public inventory of submitted GRAS notifications;
• improves the FDA’s visibility into ingredients entering the food supply, allowing for greater post-market oversight; and
• increases transparency for consumers and industry.

The rule comes on the heels of the release of a study published at Applied Food Research that focused on the recent popularity of foods containing avocado and olive oils – healthier fats than ultra-processed seed and vegetable oils that have pervaded the American diet for decades.

The study, conducted by Natalie Lopez-Alvarez, et al, at University of California, Davis, evaluated the authenticity of avocado oil and olive oil labeled as ingredients in 74 commercially processed foods, such as chips, salad dressings, and mayonnaise. The researchers noted the following highlights from their analysis:

• Of 54 avocado oil-labeled products sampled, 48 – or 89% – were inconsistent with authentic compositional ranges.
• One out of 20 olive oil-labeled products were inconsistent with authentic compositional ranges.
• Fatty acid and sterol profiles identified compositional deviations.
• Key fatty acid and sterol authenticity markers remained largely unchanged during laboratory frying and emulsification.
• Avocado oil- and olive oil-labeled products commanded higher retail prices than vegetable oil counterparts.

“These findings suggest that ingredient-level oil claims may represent an underexamined source of economic adulteration in processed foods,” the researchers concluded.

The study caught the eye of Dr. Richard Amerling – nephrology expert and independent medicine advocate with GoldCare – who posted a note to Substack citing a review of the study at the McCullough Foundation’s Focal Points.

“What an important study!” Amerling observed. “This behavior is outrageous and dishonest and should be a prime target of Sec. Kennedy’s HHS. Reading labels when shopping is crucial to avoid toxic processed foods. How can we expect citizens to regain health if labeling is fraudulent?”

In January, HHS and USDA released the nation’s new Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025–2030, a significant policy shift that urges Americans to eat “real food.”

“For decades, we’ve been fed a corrupt food pyramid that has had a myopic focus on demonizing natural, healthy saturated fats, telling you not to eat eggs and steak, and ignoring a giant blind spot: refined carbohydrates, added sugars, ultra-processed food,” former FDA Commissioner Marty Makary explained during a press conference.

A complete list of products tested by the researchers and their results can be viewed here.

One of the products tested – Sir Kensington’s brand Avocado Oil Mayonnaise – is claimed to be made with “100% avocado oil,” yet the researchers found the samples of the product tested not to be “compositionally consistent with authentic oil.”

Lumen-News reached out to Sir Kensington’s for comment but had not heard back at the time of publication.

“Nearly 60% of the American diet is made up of ultra-processed foods, and childhood obesity now affects more than one in five American children,” said Kennedy in a statement regarding the proposed rule.

“We cannot reverse America’s chronic disease epidemic without transforming our food system,” the HHS secretary added. “These historic actions bring greater transparency to what’s in our food and stronger science to federal nutrition policy. President Trump and I promised to Make America Healthy Again, and today we are turning that promise into policy.”

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