Olive Oil Caution and Blessing

I am part of a bulk buying group for some foods. I like getting items I use often in this way. A few years ago I bought two cases of olive oil since I go through it quickly and use it for all my cooking. A few months ago I used one of these gallon tins to refill the jar I keep in my kitchen. It looked very dark in color. I used it a few times and it had a different taste than normal. I noticed there was some sediment in the bottom of the jar after letting it sit and was worried about it. I have used olive oil for over 20 years and had never had this happen.

I found the customer service number for the company and called them asking about the issue. He asked if there was any grit in the sediment and he said it could be from the purple olives but there was no grit. He then said it could be oil from the pressing machines as they have seen that before. When I told him it looked more like oil and thought that was what it was, he said that in a few cases, they have had the can break down on the inside giving off sediment. Either way he said they would send me new gallons for the few I had opened and found the black oily stuff.

I thought that only a few of the gallons were bad but a few days ago, I went out and opened the second case and started pouring them into bowls and they all had the black stuff in them. I then cut open the lid of the can and this is what I found. I called the man back and he couldn't find my email where I sent a picture of the black stuff in the oil. If the can was shaken, you couldn't see the black stuff, the oil only looked a darker green. However, it would settle on the bottom after some time.

I called the man back, we stayed on the phone so he could make sure he got the email with the pictures. He checked with the manager and said they would send me enough to replace all the cans that were oozing.

I am a bit nervous now wondering if the new cans will do the same thing but I was grateful that the company would stand behind their product and send me new ones which I received by UPS yesterday! I will use those cans first as I am nervous about them but will check the oil in the other cases to make sure those cans aren't doing the same thing. I have had cans for years and years and never had that problem. I think perhaps it is just that brand but it may also be that they are in my garage where they may have cold and hot days so perhaps I should move them to the basement for storage.

The interesting thing is that the oil wasn't rancid or bad. Just the can had the problem. Perhaps I should start buying oil in jars only. They say that jars allow the oil to go rancid faster but if this is how it is with long term storage on the cans, I would rather know it is bad with a rancid taste than be eating particles of tin from the can!

However, I am grateful they would replace the cans and I did notice they now have a "use by" date and codes on the cans which they didn't before. My guess is they did have this problem and figure the latest date before the cans start to break down.

Just thought I would let you know to check your storage if you have olive or any other type oil in a can. My favorite and probably after this, will be my only long term storage oil will be coconut oil in the plastic buckets. However, I guess they have toxins that leach out of the plastic so perhaps no oil is good stored! lol :-) Storing olive oil in dark glass! There, we have a solution! Unless...... there is an earthquake! ha ha ha