Photo: Ackermann Photography / Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0

The Age: Shoppers buying and sprinkling chopped oregano leaves to flavour their food might actually be using entirely different ingredients, says consumer advocacy group Choice. A lab test found seven out of 12 popular oregano products were found to contain less than 50 per cent oregano leaves. They were bulked out with olive and sumac leaves. The worst offender was Master of Spices, which was only 10 per cent oregano, followed by Hoyt’s, at 11 per cent, and Aldi’s Stonemill, at 26 per cent. Aldi has pulled the product from shelves, and has begun offering full refunds.

“It is unclear why the adulteration occurred, but the fact is you shouldn’t require a lab test to tell you what herb you’re actually buying. You should be able to trust a product labelled ‘oregano’, is actually oregano,” said spokesman Tom Godfrey. “There is clearly a major problem in the oregano supply chain in Australia, which also raises the question about other herbs and spices entering the Australian market.” In good news, MasterFoods, Woolworths Select, Coles and Herbies Spices products were found to contain 100 per cent dried oregano leaves.

Read the full article at The Age website