Laboratory control
Free fatty acids, peroxide, moisture, impurities, iodine value, saponification value, fatty-acid profile, iron and copper: analyses on every lot, certificate handed to the buyer.
Quality
Quality is not a paragraph. It is a certificate on every drum.
The plant laboratory analyses every lot of oil before a buyer sees it. Every lot is traced by origin, variety, reception date and pressing date, and leaves with its number, its results, its methods and its seals.
The certificate, made readable
A typical lot, against the limits.
Demonstration values for a typical lot, compared with the usual extra-virgin limits and the Codex. The real certificate of every lot goes to the buyer.
- Demonstration value
- Extra-virgin limit (industry specification)
- Codex / Kenyan DKS 2995:2024 limit
-
Free fatty acidsISO 6600.5 0.3804 % (as oleic acid)
-
Peroxide valueISO 39604 2.1015 meq O₂/kg
-
Moisture and volatilesISO 8534 / 6620.1 0.0700.2 %
-
Insoluble impuritiesISO 6630.05 0.0200.05 %
Today
Traceability
A lot number ties every tank, every drum and every Flexitank to the trucks weighed at reception, their origin and their variety.
Retained samples
Two 500 mL samples per shipment, kept in the dark for the whole shelf life.
Hygiene
Workstation hygiene plan; visual inspection of the fruit at intake; skin sanitised before opening.
Why it matters
The avocado-oil market has an open wound: fraud.
In 2020 the University of California, Davis tested 22 avocado oils sold in the United States: 82% were rancid or cut with other oils, and three “extra virgin” bottles were almost entirely soybean. In 2026 a study found 3 samples in 7 outside the Codex sterol limits. There is no US standard of identity. There is, since 25 November 2024, a world Codex standard — ours.
Roadmap
The certification ladder, rung by rung.
- 01
HACCP
Hazard analysis and critical control points: the base of any food-grade oil. Target: within two years of commissioning.
Target - 02
ISO 22000 then FSSC 22000
Food-safety management system, then the GFSI-recognised scheme that large refiners and brands demand: 42,000 certified organisations worldwide.
Target - 03
Kosher and halal
As demanded by cosmetics and food buyers.
Target - 04
Organic
Regulation (EU) 2018/848 and USDA NOP: the Burundian chain, without synthetic inputs or irrigation, is predisposed to it. Third-party certification is indispensable before the word is used.
Target - 05
COSMOS and Fair for Life
The door to European cosmetics formulators and to fair trade. Target: after refining.
Target
References
Standards and methods
- Codex Alimentarius
- Standard for named vegetable oils, CXS 210-1999; avocado oil added on 25 November 2024: oleic 42–75%, palmitoleic 4–17.1%, sterols 3,000–7,500 mg/kg, tocopherols 45–478 mg/kg.
- ISO methods
- ISO 660 (acidity), 3960 (peroxide), 8534 and 662 (moisture), 663 (impurities), 3961 (iodine), 3657 (saponification), 12966 (fatty acids), 12228 (sterols), 9936 (tocopherols), 21033 (metals).
- Burundi Bureau of Standards (BBN)
- Certificate of conformity for export, recognised across the East African Community.
- Kenyan standard DKS 2995:2024
- Virgin avocado oil: acid value ≤ 2.0 mg KOH/g extra virgin, peroxide ≤ 10 meq/kg, moisture ≤ 0.2%, impurities ≤ 0.05%. The regional reference.