What do designations such as first cold-pressed, pure, extra virgin, etc. mean ?
The term “extra virgin” only applies to olive oil. It means that it is the best quality olive oil with the lowest oleic acidity (< 0.8%). The term "virgin" is the equivalent of first cold-pressed and can be used for all varieties of oil. Used to qualify olive oil, the word "virgin" refers to second quality, i.e. oil with less than 1.5% oleic acidity. The word "pure" is not a standard of quality. It merely indicates that there is only one variety of oil, not a blend, in the bottle. For example, a bottle of pure sunflower oil only contains sunflower and nothing else. Watch out for the term "mechanically-pressed" as even industrial oil mills use mechanical pressing, but it is followed by chemical refining processes.
