Albert Sutliffe wrote lately on that subject from Florence: "Any one who has eaten the olive oil commonly used in America, and has also tasted it pure at the refineries of Nice, Lucca or Florence, can easily understand the prejudice against it. The two articles are entirely different. The former, too often suggests whale or lard oil in some state of impurity or rancidness, while even the most prejudiced person tasting the latter at the place of production finds it pleasant. Even the most fastidious or uninitiated taste would not object to a beefsteak cooked in the best of Lucca oil, which he would hardly be able to distinguish from the finest butter."
These adulterations are not confined to the shipping points of Europe, they also take place at many receiving centers where they dilute still more what has already been quite liberally adulterated. In reference to this, we just read in the San Francisco Evening Bulletin of May 29, 1887: "The 'Camera de Commercio Italiano,' an organization of local Italian merchants formed to promote trade between California and Italy, will hold a meeting Saturday at the rooms on Battery street, opposite the Postoffice. Various matters of business will come up; among other things, that of the recently discovered adulteration in this country of certain Italian products. It has been learned that some local dealers of more enterprise than integrity, have been importing olive oil and diluting it here with a cotton seed product.
