As a follow up from yesterday's blog, Why It's Ideal To List Multiple Potential Bulk Oil Ingredients, today we'll be discussing how to go about the process of qualifying multiple ingredient for your label.

In review, some brands often list multiple ingredients with an "and/or" stipulation. For example, our chips may be made with Canola Oil, Sunflower Oil, and/or Safflower Oil.  The consumer doesn't get to know exactly what they're eating in that particular bag, but they know it will have been made with at least one of those 3 ingredients.  

This decision to list more than one commodity bulk oil ingredient is a strategic business choice.  It helps protect the company in times of commodity market crisis, where one ingredient may be high priced, or even worse, completely unavailable.

Want to do this for your product?  We'll walk you through the steps.

Have you ever looked on the back of some products to find ingredient labels that list multiple potential ingredients?

Canola Oil, Sunflower Oil and/or Safflower Oil?  Soybean Oil and/or Corn Oil?  This is especially common when the ingredients are used for cooking or preparation-- you'll find this in chips and popcorn a lot because of that.

What this ingredient label means is that the bulk oil ingredients that may be used in the product could be Canola Oil... but it also might be Sunflower Oil or Safflower Oil.  Or maybe both, or all three.  Whatever the company happens to decide for to use that production run is a-okay, because they've already listed the possible choices on their ingredient list.

This trend is especially common with oil ingredients, since they are often commodities and, in some products, are easily interchangable.  

Ever wonder why companies list more than one possibile ingredient?  There's a good (and very self-preserving) reason behind it.  

The era of Non-GMO is upon us.

No matter how you feel about the non-GMO movement, it's a fact that it's in full swing in the food industry, and it's still picking up speed.  

This movement, still in its adolescence, will come in stages.  It's childhood was the blossoming of demand for non-GMO foods and the establishment of small companies and niche brands that catered to this new trend.  Next comes the transition of large mainstream companies to non-GMO, as they hop on the bandwagon.  In fact, we're just moving into phase two of this movement now.  

This evolution of large companies "hopping on board" has an affect on the entire supply and demand chain for non-GMO ingredients.  If you also buy non-GMO, it will affect how your business gets ingredients, if they're available and what the prices are.  

You'll want to know this, and you'll want to begin preparing now.

Happy Sunday!  You've made it through another week :)

In two days, it will will officially be the first day of fall.  Personally, that's my favorite season of the year.  Enjoy the cooling weather, crisp air and beautiful colors.  And also, football season has arrived!

In the bulk oil world, here's the lastest trends from this week-- just in case you missed out.

If you're looking for a great recipe this week, this one is on my top 10 list-- warm in your belly and so delicious.  Make it in a crockpot tonight, turn it on the morning, and you're good to go for tomorrow night!  Look for the link at the bottom for all the details.

The other day, I sauteed vegetables on my stovetop.  I used Extra Virgin Olive Oil in the pan, and I was in a hurry so I turned the heat up to get the food cooking faster.  Next thing I knew, I got sidetracked and smoke was billowing from the pan.  

How many of you have experienced this before?

This scenario can happen with any oil that you're cooking with, but some are more prone to it than others.  

Why is that?  It has to do with the smoke point of the oil.

Every type of oil has a miximum heat that it can withstand.  After it heats beyond that point, the oil begins to breakdown and smoke begins to waft up.  The hotter it gets, the more it smokes.  

This can also happen in a manufacturing setting-- not just your home kitchen.  If this happens in production, the result is wasted ingredients, a damaged product, and a number of other physical hazards.  

The best way to avoid this situation is to know the smoke point of the oil you're using, and not heat it above that temperature.  Otherwise, you could damage the flavor of your product and get yourself into quite a pickle in the warehouse.

If you're a purchaser for a manufacturing company, it's likely that you've got a long list from the QA department asking for documents on each of the ingredients that you're sourcing.

Compiling and managing this can be a bit overwhelming.  There's lots of boxes to check, and your supplier needs to be prepared to check each one for you.

If you're a new manufacturing business or in a purchasing role for the first time, it can be even more overwhelming!  That's why we want to take the guess work out of what to expect.

Here's a list of the most common documents that we get requests for, what they are and why you might want them.  This list is, in fact, for all of the oil ingredients that you may buy-- not just bulk olive oil.  You can pick and choose what you want to receive from there.

Happy Sunday!

Well, it's officially starting to feel more and more like fall, no matter where you live.  Nights are cooling down, and in some parts of the country it's officially fair season (a personal favorite of mine).

In case you had a busy week and missed out, we understand.  Here's a refresher of the latest articles from the bulk oil world.

Also, f you need quick, healthy lunches for this week, we've included a link to a great recipe.  If you make it tonight, you'll be able to eat it for the next few days-- it's perfect for that.

It's clear that interest in olive oil has taken an upturn in recent years.  More interestingly though, it's also clear that there is still a lot of confusion surrounding olive oil.  

A 2014 national attitude and usage study was released by the North American Olive Oil Association (NAOOA) and co-financed by the International Olive Council (IOC).  This survey found that while consumers are interested in the world of olive oil, they're confused about important factors and many myths still exist.

Here are 3 of the most common myths -- and the truth behind those myths.

There's a logical first question for those looking at 55 gallon drums of bulk oil for the first time.  

That question is, how do I get the oil out of the drum? Good question.  Here's the answer-- and it's actually pretty simple.

Our Recommendation for a Drum Pump

First things first, you'll need a drum pump.  This mechanism will get the oil out of the inside of the drum, through the hole in the top, and into your production line.  There are lots of different manual and electric pumps for drums, but here's our favorite one:

What's the key to storing bulk olive oil correctly?  It's pretty simple-- you can just think of a traditional wine cellar and you'll have it.  

Close your eyes.  Picture that dreary, dark, cold wine cellar with all those barrels stacked floor to ceiling.  Somewhat romantic right?  Okay, we know most wine cellars don't really look like that anymore.  But it paints a good picture!

That picture has all the tell tale clues of how your olive oil also wants to be stored.  Making note of them (and then changing your storage conditions to abide by them) will help your oil maintain its freshness for as long as possible. surface

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...

Happy Sunday!  You've made it to the 250th day of the year.  Only 115 left to go!

Throughout history, this day has been a big one in the music world-- Buddy Holiday was born on Septmeber 7th, and 18 years ago, Tupac was shot (throwback anyone?).

This week in the world of bulk oil was all about advice for manufacturers and bulk oil quality.  If you missed any of the good stuff, you can catch up today!  

We've also included a great recipe for dinner this week.  Our suggestion: use your olive oil and don't use it sparingly!

Enjoy.

The color of bulk olive oil is important to some food manufacturers.  And not at all important to others.  It depends on the product that you're making and the grade that you've decided to use.

But if you've used a specific brand of olive oil for a long time (for example, let's say Costco's Kirkland brand, as you've been growing your small business), it can sometimes be challenging to switch to something new.  The same goes if you are switching from one bulk oil supplier to another.  

This discussion give you a better understanding of why some suppliers' olive oil changes color from order to order, while others do not.

But first, let's discuss the different aspects that affect olive oil color.

Why do manufacturers choose the grade of olive oil that they do?  This is a good question, especially if you're a growing brand or manufacturer in the process of deciding what grade is right for your product.

Today we're going to look at a debated topic: Why would a manufacturer choose the lowest grade of olive oil, Olive Pomace Oil, over other bulk oil grades available?

There's actually a number of reasons-- and they're not all price.  Let's review 4 reasons why manufacturers in the industry (potentially even your competitors) would ever choose olive pomace oil for an ingredient.  

First though, let's define Olive Pomace Oil, so that everyone is on the same page.  

If you're working on a new product which uses olive oil as an ingredient, the first step is to decide what is the best grade to use in your product. 

There are a lot of factors that tie into this final olive oil grade decision-- many little interwebbed strings that connect this decision with the outer-reaches of your business planning.  Choosing a grade is not only an R&D decision; it ties into purchasing, marketing and new business development.  

To make a decision on the grade you'll use, you'll need to ask yourself questions like:

• How much can I pay for this ingredient?  
• Does a particular grade of oil make or break the taste profile for my product?  
• Does our target market prefer that we use a particular grade, like Extra Virgin?  
• Can we afford to factor their opinions in?  Can we afford not to?

Before you get overwhelmed, I'm going to streamline the decision process for you.  Just follow these 3 steps and you'll be well on your way to making a smart decision for your business.