If you buy organic sunflower oil, do you remember what happened last summer?

Supplies were tight in the summer, companies scrambled for inventory all over the US — a lot of manufacturers came up short. Production was affected, ingredients were switched, and you probably paid a lot more for last minute organic inventory than you should have.

If you don’t remember (or you weren’t privy the drama at the time) let me give you a brief overview of what happened last year, so that you can plan ahead to put your company in the best possible position for summer and fall of 2015.

Are you sourcing organic soybean oil?

Many manufacturers are these days. With the trend towards healthy, non-GMO and organic foods, many mainstream food manufacturers are sourcing organic alternatives for new clean product lines. With soybean oil being one of the top edible oils used in the food manufacturing industry today, it’s no surprise that this organic alternative is growing in popularity – and fast.

It’s also an easy switch for many manufacturer to change to. Here’s the top 4 reasons food manufacturers are switching from conventional soybean oil to certified organic soybean oil.

So you're looking for Certified USDA Organic Olive Oil, eh?  And you want to know where the best, cheapest place to buy it is?  Let's see if I can help.

In terms of finding you the "cheapest" price, your volumes are really going to determine where you should buy.  If you buy 1 case per month, I can't (and won't, in my right mind) tell you to buy from a large oil supplier who works with manufacturers-- because it won't be the cheapest or easiest option.  

But I will try to point you in the best direction.  So based on your industry, here's the best advice I can give you...

If you're producing a product that is organic, it's important to understand the difference between organic and certified USDA organic.  

The USDA certification is regulated under the National Organic Program or NOP.  The primary difference between organic and certified USDA organic relates to who is making the claim and if there is paperwork provided (by the right people) to back that organic statement up. 

In this discussion, we'll first review a definition of organic vs. certified USDA organic.  Then we'll look at a good example of these definitions from close to home.  Last, we'll talk about how this definition affects the labeling of your products.

This discussion is ideal for new food brands and organic manufacturers.

If you buy organic olive oil in bulk for your company, here's all the basics that you're going to want to know.  We'll review the best questions we've gotten over the years about Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil, and give you some straight-forward and helpful answers.

Answers to questions like:

1. How is organic olive oil made?
2. How is organic extra virgin olive oil diffferent than regular extra virgin?
3. Is "certified organic" different than just organic?
4. Is organic olive oil always "extra virgin" olive oil too?
5. What is the price of organic olive oil, especially compared to regular extra virgin olive oil?
6. What makes the price of organic olive oil change?
7. What kind of quality documentation should I expect?
8. Is Organic Olive Oil also certified Kosher?
9. What kind of packaging does organic olive oil come in?

If you're looking for a bulk oil that is certified organic, chances are that you'd also like your oil to not contain any GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms).  Good news for you-- all oils that are certified organic also are going to be non-GMO automatically.  

You should probably know a bit more of the details though, because it will affect your company as you're choosing ingredients, getting non-GMO or organic certified or preparing your ingredient documentation.

Did you know that there is both Organic Extra Virgin and an Organic Virgin Olive Oil? Just like there is a regular Extra Virgin and regular Virgin Olive Oil, each of these oils are also available in an organic version.

Interestingly though, you won’t find Organic Virgin Olive Oil very many places in the US. That’s because there’s not much of it that is produced, nor is it often demanded by customers. It’s just not that readily available. So why is that?