What a confusing industry olive oil can be! There are so many grade names and terms know, to really understand what you are getting when you buy olive oil.

Our goal today is to help spell some of these nuances for you, so that you can get exactly what you are looking for. Today, we will concentrate specifically on Extra Virgin and Virgin Olive Oil.

These terms, Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Virgin Olive Oil are so close to each other. They each describe a particular grade/quality of oil. I suppose it's logical that they are so close in name because the quality of oil is so similar as well. These grades are more like sisters than distant cousins. Let's dive in and discuss the similarities between these two oils first. 

Depending on what information you read, you may hear that sunflower is healthy from some and unhealthy from others.  So which is it? 

To help those grappling with all this conflicting information, we'd like to weigh in: the answer is not as straightforward as "good" or "bad".  Due to the ins and outs of the specific fat makeup of the oil (aka, what KIND of fats are found inside the oil molecules) and how oil is made, this discussion can be confusing and there's a lot of room for gray area and misinformation.

To make this discussion even less straight forward, the type of sunflower oil that was commonly used in the 80s and 90s is becoming less and less prevalent. So we are not always talking about the same thing when we say "sunflower oil."

Are you looking for an easy way to fill small bottles or pour oil from a 35 Lb. Container?  Most small businesses and at-home users find that ordering 35 Lb. Containers are the cheapest and easiest way to "go bulk" and it's a size that works well for them.  But, many people are still looking for a simpler system to dispense the oil into smaller, easier-to-handle packaging for kitchen use.

Olive oil blends are a common oil option in both the food manufacturing and food service industries.

Blends can have a lot of advantages.  In the manufacturing world, they are a great option for a mild-tasting oil: they still allow you to use olive oil and have it on your label, but without the strong flavor.  They also help you meet lower raw-ingredient costs.  On the foodservice side, olive oil blends typically have higher smoke points (from the added canola oil) and help keep your kitchen costs down.

What type of packaging is best for your manufacturing facility?

Let's take a look at some of the two most popular bulk packaging options to discuss the pros and cons of each.

Drums and totes are the two most commonly used bulk packaging sizes.  Each has it's own advantages and disadvantages.  One may also be easier to use, depending on the set-up at your facility.  

Are you a food manufacturer serving the natural food industry and you are not already doing organics you have probably wondered the following:

What would it take to get organic certified? Is it worth it?

Our sales manager, Hannah, sat down with our quality control department and our warehouse manager to ask just a few questions. She wanted to find out precisely what it takes to get USDA Organic Certified. 

There are a few grades of olive oil that are commonly used in manufacturing, which you may not recognize from a retail shelf. While you will most often see Extra Virgin Olive Oil on a retail shelf, there are other (lower) grades of olive oil that are sometimes used in manufacturing.

If you are currently researching bulk olive oil for food/body care production or you are a manufacturer, it will help to know the differences between these different grades.  Today, we will walk through how these olive oil grades are each made, along with how they compare to each other.

In Hebrew, Kosher means fit or proper. When used with food products, kosher means that the item in question meets the dietary requirements of Jewish law. These are requirements set forward by the Jewish faith, and nutritional restrictions followed year-round. 

 Want to find out more about what it means to offer a Kosher food product?  Read on.

Centra Foods receives questions from countless food manufacturers each year, asking for the best ways to save money on olive oil. Many components can affect the total price of your olive oil, including grade types, packaging, freight, the distance of the FOB point, and experience of the supplier.

If you missed part one of this series, click here.  This week, we will be reviewing the next step to saving: choosing the best (and cheapest) packaging for your production facility.

Centra Foods receives questions from countless food manufacturers each year, asking for the best ways to save money on olive oil. Many components can affect the total price of your olive oil, including the type (or grade), packaging, freight costs, the distance from the FOB point, and experience of the supplier.

In this week's article, we will try to give you the best questions to internally review, to see how you can save money -- all while still working smoothly on the production floor and not discounting the final quality of your product.

Centra Foods supplies wholesalers and food service distributors with olive oil (and other non-gmo and organic oils) in bulk. As a result, we get a lot of business questions from companies in this industry.

Closely working with buyers of bulk and wholesale olive oil across the United States has given us the privilege to closely follow growing industry trends.

Every day, we speak with buyers from a variety of industries: natural grocers, wholesale distributors, food service companies, and local co-ops. We tend to receive a plethora of requests for olive oil and have the opportunity to uncover the last in what you might call "food fashion."

The organic industry is continuing to grow, and organic foods are holding more and more appeal to consumers that are already buying natural or non-GMO.

There are many different reasons that consumers choose to buy organic, and they have a wide range from personal health matters to much more massive scale reasons such as ecosystem or water preservation.

Maintaining the right levels of inventory for all of your ingredients can be a challenge, especially for small and fast growing businesses. Many small businesses want to buy in bulk, but struggle with holding too much inventory at one time.

When looking for an olive oil manufacturer, it can feel like fumbling in the dark. It's vital for your business that you work with a supplier who can help take care of all of your needs.

This is why we've compiled a shortlist of all of the things that we think you should expect — as a bare minimum — from your olive oil supplier. This applies whether you are searching for a new vendor or if you've been working with one for years. Making sure that you're working with an olive oil manufacturer who checks off on these four things will help keep your supply chain flowing smoothly.