Olive Oil Recalls and Alerts: How to Check Your Bottle
If you have heard about an olive oil recall and are now looking at the bottle in your cupboard, the useful question is narrow: does your bottle match the notice? An olive oil recall almost never covers a whole brand. It covers a specific product, size and batch, and the official notice lists the identifiers that decide it. This guide shows where those notices are published in the US, the UK, Ireland and the EU, what recent ones actually said, and how to check your own bottle in about five minutes. When we searched the four regulators' records for this article on 1 October 2026, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) held the clearest recent cases — an adulteration finding, a botulism-process problem and an unapproved flavouring — while the UK's Food Standards Agency (FSA) data showed no recall of a bottle of olive oil itself.
For our own oil, see our cold-pressed single-estate extra virgin olive oil.
The Short Answer
- An olive oil recall applies only to the product, size, barcode, lot code and dates printed in the official notice. If any identifier differs, your bottle is not part of it.
- The FDA lists US recalls at fda.gov and in its weekly Enforcement Report; the FSA lists UK recalls at food.gov.uk; the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) lists Irish food alerts at fsai.ie; the EU's RASFF Window lists cross-border notifications between regulators.
- In January 2025, D.F.S. International recalled 3-litre bottles of Daniele brand extra virgin olive oil sold in New York because, in the FDA's words, the product "is likely Canola Oil, not Extra Virgin Olive Oil" — a Class III recall, the lowest-risk tier.
- Flavoured and infused oils account for most recent US cases: a Kentucky shop's garlic and basil infused oils (botulism-process concern, Class II, 2025) and a Cincinnati producer's garlic-infused extra virgin olive oil (unapproved garlic essential oil, August 2026).
- If your bottle matches, stop using it and follow the notice — return it for a refund or dispose of it as instructed. If you feel unwell after using a recalled product, contact a doctor.
What Counts as an Olive Oil Recall?
A recall is the removal of a specific product from sale, and from people's homes, because it breaks food law or may be unsafe. Most are started by the company itself and overseen by the regulator. The notice is the legal record: it names the product, the reason and the identifying codes.
In the US, the FDA grades food recalls by risk. Its published definitions are worth knowing, because the headline word "recall" covers a very wide range:
| FDA class | What the FDA says it means | Olive oil example |
|---|---|---|
| Class I | A reasonable probability that use of the product will cause serious adverse health consequences or death | None found for bottled olive oil in our search |
| Class II | May cause temporary or medically reversible adverse health consequences, or serious consequences are remote | Lotsa Pasta garlic and basil infused olive oils, Kentucky (2025) |
| Class III | Not likely to cause adverse health consequences | Daniele extra virgin olive oil, 3L, New York (2025) |
| Market withdrawal | A minor violation that would not be subject to FDA legal action | — |
The UK and Ireland do not use the same numbered classes. The FSA publishes product recall information notices and allergy alerts; the FSAI publishes numbered food alerts. In the EU, RASFF notifications carry a risk decision, such as "serious", "potentially serious" or "not serious", and a classification that shows whether the product is known to be on sale.
Recent Olive Oil Recalls and Alerts, Checked at Source
Every entry below was read on the regulator's own website or database on 1 October 2026. We have reproduced the stated reason, not added to it. The FDA lists the three older US recalls as terminated, meaning the recall process has been completed.
| Date | Regulator | Product | Stated reason | Risk level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31 Aug 2026 | FDA (company announcement) | Kofinas Olive Oil Garlic Mediterranean Infused Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 500ml, 250ml and 100ml, sold in Cincinnati, Ohio, and online | Made with a garlic essential oil not approved for culinary use; no illnesses reported | Voluntary recall |
| 9 Sep 2025 (classified 8 Dec 2025) | FDA Enforcement Report | Lotsa Pasta International Food Shop Roasted Garlic and Fresh Basil Infused Olive Oil, 12oz (375ml), Kentucky | Potential to be contaminated with Clostridium botulinum; manufactured without an approved process filed | Class II |
| 6 Jan 2025 (classified 10 Jul 2025) | FDA Enforcement Report | Daniele brand First Cold Press Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 3L, distributed in New York (10 cases) | "Product is likely Canola Oil, not Extra Virgin Olive Oil" | Class III |
| 12 Feb 2016 | FDA Enforcement Report | Bertolli Extra Virgin Olive Oil 8.5oz and Carapelli Extra Virgin Olive Oil 25.5oz (Deoleo USA) | Trace amounts of two pesticides, trifloxystrobin and tebuconazole, that had no US tolerance for olive oil | Class III |
| 24 Jun 2026 | FSAI alert 2026.36 | Ortiz Sardines in Olive Oil, 190g jar, batch 73175G | Possible presence of glass pieces | Recall of one batch |
| 9 Dec 2022 | FSA PRIN-63-2022 | Co-op Anchovies in olive oil | Contains histamine | Product recall |
Two things stand out. First, the Daniele recall is the one genuine "this bottle may not be olive oil" case in the recent US record, and the FDA rated it Class III. Second, the UK and Irish entries are fish packed in olive oil, not the oil itself: the FSA alerts data returned no recall of a bottle of olive oil when we searched it.
What EU Regulators Flag: The RASFF Pattern
RASFF, the EU's Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed, is where national regulators warn each other. Its notifications rarely name a consumer brand, so they are less useful for checking one bottle — but they show what regulators actually test olive oil for. Notifications we read in RASFF Window on 1 October 2026 included:
- Mineral oil hydrocarbons (MOSH/MOAH): notification 2026.4542 (22 May 2026, notified by Switzerland, olive oil from Portugal, risk decision "serious") and 2025.7740 (9 October 2025, notified by Germany, olive oil from Spain).
- 3-MCPD, a processing contaminant: 2026.4298 (15 May 2026, notified by Germany, "olive oil for frying" from Greece, "serious").
- Pesticide residues: 2025.2638 (9 April 2025, notified by Italy, chlorpyrifos in extra virgin olive oil from Italy via Spain, "potentially serious").
- Pomace olive oil: three notifications from the Netherlands in July and August 2026 concerned MOAH in pomace olive oil from Italy and Greece.
- Fraud and registration: 2025.10281 (19 December 2025, Spain) concerned olive oil produced in an unregistered establishment; 2026.1698 (2 March 2026, Netherlands) a sensory deviation in olive oil from Lebanon.
A RASFF notification is not the same as a consumer recall in your country. The classification says whether the lot was on sale and where; the national regulator decides whether a public recall follows.
How to Check Your Bottle Against a Recall Notice
The check takes about five minutes and needs only the bottle and the notice. Work through it in this order:
- Open the official notice, not a news story about it. News reports often drop the lot codes.
- Match the brand and exact product name. "Extra virgin" and "infused" versions of the same brand are different products.
- Match the size. Recalls frequently cover one bottle size only.
- Match the barcode (UPC or EAN) printed under the stripes on the label.
- Find the lot or batch code and the best-before date. On olive oil they are usually printed on the neck, the shoulder or the base of the bottle, sometimes in faint ink-jet type.
- Check where and when you bought it against the distribution area and sale dates in the notice.
- If every identifier matches, stop using it and follow the notice's instructions on refunds and disposal. Keep the receipt if you have it.
If even one identifier is different, the recall does not apply to your bottle. A recall of one batch says nothing, either way, about a brand's other batches.
Whether an unrecalled bottle is any good is a separate question — freshness, grade and storage matter far more day to day. Our guide to choosing a quality olive oil covers harvest dates, dark glass and certification, and our piece on whether olive oil goes bad explains how to tell rancid oil from fresh.
Where to Find Official Olive Oil Recalls by Country
| Where you bought it | Regulator | Where to look |
|---|---|---|
| United States | Food and Drug Administration (FDA) | fda.gov "Recalls, Market Withdrawals, & Safety Alerts" and the weekly Enforcement Report |
| England, Wales, Northern Ireland | Food Standards Agency (FSA) | food.gov.uk news and alerts; email alert subscription available |
| Scotland | Food Standards Scotland | foodstandards.gov.scot food alerts |
| Ireland | Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) | fsai.ie food alerts |
| EU (cross-border) | European Commission RASFF | RASFF Window public search |
Within the EU, consumer recalls themselves are issued by each member state's own food authority, so check your national regulator first and RASFF second.
Why Infused and Flavoured Olive Oils Turn Up More Often
Two of the three recent US cases above involve oils with something added. That is not a coincidence. University of Georgia extension guidance (Schwan, December 2024) explains that oil combined with garlic or herbs creates a low-oxygen environment "ideal for the growth of the bacteria that causes botulism", and advises that homemade non-acidified infusions be refrigerated and discarded four days after making, or frozen. Commercial producers must use a validated, approved process — which is exactly what the 2025 Kentucky recall said was missing.
The 2026 Ohio case was different again: the problem was the flavouring itself, a garlic essential oil not approved for culinary use. Plain extra virgin olive oil has neither of these risks because nothing is added to it. For making flavoured oil safely at home, see our guide to garlic-infused olive oil.
The Honest Limits: Recalls, Fraud and Quality Are Different Questions
A fair objection to all of this: isn't most olive oil fake anyway? Fraud cases are real, and the Daniele recall shows a bottle can be labelled extra virgin and turn out to be something else. But the regulators' own records show that recalls of bottled olive oil are uncommon, and when they happen the notice is specific. A dramatic headline is not evidence about the bottle in your kitchen.
The opposite objection is just as fair: no recall does not mean good oil. A recall marks a legal or safety failure. It does not tell you whether an oil is fresh, correctly graded or worth what you paid. For what the words on a label do and do not guarantee, see our explainer on what "100% olive oil" really means.
Why Sidr & Stone
The best defence a buyer has is knowing exactly where an oil comes from and who made it. That is the approach behind our own olive oil: one farm, one owner, one harvest at a time.
- Sidr & Stone's olive oil is single-estate: it comes from our own family-owned farm on the plains outside Marrakech, Morocco, and we control every step from tree to bottle, with no blending across origins.
- Our olive trees are rain-fed, with no irrigation.
- Sidr & Stone's olive oil is organically grown, with no synthetic fertilisers, pesticides or herbicides used (not yet certified; certification is in progress).
- Each bottle comes from a limited single-harvest batch.
- The oil is cold-pressed within hours of harvest and is unfiltered extra virgin olive oil, so a little natural sediment is normal.
- It is 100% natural: a single ingredient, with no additives and nothing infused.
- It is bottled in 500ml dark glass with a gold label, to protect it from light.
- Sidr & Stone gives 10% of profits to charity, and fulfils orders in the UK, the EU and the US.
We will not tell you Sidr & Stone is the best olive oil — that would be the very kind of claim this article asks you to check. What we will say is that our oil is single-estate Moroccan, rain-fed, organically grown and cold-pressed within hours of harvest, and that the product page carries the current batch's harvest details.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there an olive oil recall right now?
The most recent we found on 1 October 2026 was the FDA-posted recall of Kofinas Olive Oil's Garlic Mediterranean Infused Extra Virgin Olive Oil, announced on 31 August 2026 and sold in Cincinnati, Ohio, and online. Recalls change weekly, so check your regulator's site for the latest.
Why do olive oils get recalled?
The recorded reasons include adulteration (an oil that is likely not olive oil), contamination risks such as Clostridium botulinum in improperly processed infused oils, unapproved ingredients, and pesticide residues without a legal limit for olive oil. In the EU, mineral oil hydrocarbons and processing contaminants such as 3-MCPD also appear in RASFF notifications.
How do I find the lot number on a bottle of olive oil?
Look at the neck, shoulder and base of the bottle and the edge of the back label for a short printed code, often beside the best-before date. Match it, with the size and barcode, to the official notice.
What should I do if my olive oil is recalled?
Stop using it and follow the notice: most offer a refund at the place of purchase or tell you to dispose of the product. If you feel unwell after using a recalled product, contact a doctor, and you can report a problem to your national food regulator.
How is a single-estate olive oil different from a blended one?
A single-estate oil comes from one farm and one producer, so its origin is a single, nameable place. Sidr & Stone's olive oil comes from our own estate on the plains outside Marrakech; many supermarket oils are blends of oils from several farms or countries, which the label may describe only broadly.
Does a recall mean the whole brand is unsafe?
No. A recall covers only the products and batches listed in the notice. The 2016 Bertolli and Carapelli recall, for example, covered two specific bottle sizes and the FDA rated it Class III, its lowest-risk tier.
Where can I buy olive oil with a traceable source?
Look for a named estate or producer, a harvest date and dark glass. Our own single-estate Moroccan extra virgin olive oil is available on our product page, with fulfilment in the UK, the EU and the US.
Is olive oil a medicine?
No. Olive oil is a food, not a medicine. It has a long traditional history — including being honoured in the Prophetic Sunnah — and a substantial body of modern research, particularly around polyphenols, cardiovascular health, and the Mediterranean diet pattern. It can be a worthwhile part of a healthy routine, but it does not cure diseases and is not a substitute for medical care. Be cautious of any olive oil marketed with specific disease-cure claims.
Final Thoughts
An olive oil recall headline is a prompt to check, not a reason to throw out every bottle in the house. Go to the regulator's notice, match the product, size, barcode and lot code, and act only if they all line up. The official record is usually calmer, and far more precise, than the coverage around it.
For the longer view, the most reliable protection is buying oil whose origin you can trace to a named producer, and storing it well once it is open. That is a better use of attention than any single headline.
Our cold-pressed single-estate extra virgin olive oil — single-estate, rain-fed and cold-pressed within hours of harvest — is available to pre-order now, with fulfilment in the UK, EU, and US.
Our extra virgin olive oil is grown organically on our own single-estate farm on the plains outside Marrakech: we control every step from tree to bottle, and no synthetic pesticides, herbicides or fertilisers are used. It is not yet certified organic — certification is in progress, and we will publish it as soon as it comes through.
Disclaimer: This article summarises official recall notices and regulator database entries as they stood on 1 October 2026; recalls are added and updated frequently, and readers should check the regulator's current notice before acting. Product details are reproduced from the regulators' own records and are not a judgement on any brand beyond what those notices state. Olive oil is a food, not a medicine, and is not a substitute for medical treatment of any condition. For any health concern, consult a qualified medical professional.