The popularity of coconut oil has skyrocketed in recent years. It seems as though everyone is starting to realize what traditional South Pacific cultures with virtually no heart disease knew for centuries: Â coconut oil is one of the healthiest fats on the planet and is a boon to health when plentiful amounts are present in the diet.
Even Dr. Oz recommends coconut oil. When a TV medical doctor is extolling the virtues of coconut oil, you know it has well and truly gone mainstream!
The problem is that good quality virgin coconut oil is not particularly inexpensive. And with more and more budget conscious families demanding coconut oil, the big box wholesalers like Costco have been faced with a dilemma – how best to capitalize on the coconut oil frenzy while keeping the price dirt cheap.
I’ll admit that I’ve been suspicious of the big box wholesaler brands of coconut oil for quite awhile. The price just didn’t jive with the price I knew to be necessary to ensure a quality, pure product.
It seems that evidence is now emerging that my suspicions have been justified.
Mary M. messaged me on my Facebook page just yesterday complaining about the big jar of Costco coconut oil (picture above).  She writes:
“I just opened and began using a big container of coconut oil (got it at Costco) that I’ve had for maybe 3 months and it has sat on my pantry shelf (outside in my garage, I live in Texas so it’s gotten hotter than 100 degrees).
It smells like burned marshmallows, or maybe the inside of a pumpkin on Halloween. Since I can’t find any web sites that describe the smell (other than “yucky” and “very, very bad”) for rancid coconut oil, could you please help me out? I can’t stand to put it on my face….but can I still cook with it?”
Absolutely not.
You don’t want to ever use, cook with, or put on your skin an oil that smells bad!
Mary’s email about her jar of Costco coconut oil raised two big red flags to me. First of all, I’ve been using coconut oil and virgin coconut oil for many years and I have never had it go off, even when kept for a year or two in my garage where the temperature easily reaches a 110-120F on humid August afternoons.
Coconut oil is an extremely stable oil and should never have gone bad such as what Mary M. experienced, provided it is pure, 100% coconut oil and it was filtered properly so that none of the coconut protein was left in the oil.
The second red flag about this Costco coconut oil was the wording of the label. Â There is no such thing as “extra virgin coconut oil”. Â It is either refined coconut oil or virgin coconut oil. A friend of mine who is the owner of a company that is a quality purveyor of virgin coconut oil had this to say:
“… any product that uses the term ‘extra virgin’ and it does not pertain to olive oil is using the term outside its definition… Trying to market something that does not exist.”
Does this mean use of the misleading term “extra virgin coconut oil” indicates an inferior product? Â Not necessarily. Â It is simply a red flag that further investigation to ensure a quality product is required particularly if the product is found on a shelf at Costco or other large retailer for a price that is too good to be true.
Why Inexpensive Costco Coconut Oil is Likely of Poor Quality
There are a couple of potential reasons why Mary M’s Costco coconut oil went bad.
First of all, it might not have been 100% pure coconut oil at all.
Not pure coconut oil? Not so far fetched. This is what the olive oil industry has been doing for years, blending cheaper oils with extra virgin olive oil and marketing it as pure extra virgin olive oil. Since the majority of the oil is indeed “pure” extra virgin, they get away with labeling it as such even though other cheaper usually rancid oils are present. However, what restaurants do is even worse. Most use “olive oil blends” for cooking that are actually 75% canola oil and only 25% olive oil. If you ask them what they use for cooking, most in my experience will simply respond “olive oil” even when this is not really true.
If Mary M’s Costco coconut oil had vegetable oils or cheaper hydrogenated palm oil blended in, even if organic and in small amounts, it would be prone to going off sitting in a hot pantry for a few months causing the entire jar to stink after awhile.
Another possibility is that the oil was improperly filtered and is inferior quality coconut oil subject to rancidity as a result. Â My friend mentioned earlier who is the owner of a company that sells quality virgin coconut oil had this to say when I asked him about Mary’s coconut oil problem and how it could possibly go rancid:
“The only thing I have seen is during the filtering process. Â If they run it too fast or do not change the filters, one can get pieces of coconut (protein) in the product. Â You will not see it other than with time you might see a slight change in color on the bottom of the container. Â And this product can culture at the bottom of the container and it will have a culture smell.”
Another friend who also owns a company that sells high quality virgin coconut oil had this to add:
“It is possible that it was not 100% Coconut Oil. However, I suspect that it was just very old oil and not fresh. Since there is so much demand for Coconut Oil, fresh lots will be sold for money and may not be available at discount stores.”
Was Mary’s Costco coconut oil cut with a small percentage of cheaper oils to boost manufacturer and/or coconut oil reseller profits, poorly filtered causing the coconut protein bits to “culture” the oil, or just old, manufacturer’s defect oil?
It’s anybody’s guess, but one thing is for sure.  It was not fresh, high quality Grade A coconut oil. Good quality, pure coconut oil that has been properly filtered does not go bad in a hot 100F pantry even if in a plastic tub.  Cheaply priced coconut oil at a discount store runs the risk of being old, improperly filtered (manufacturer’s defect) and not the best choice for your health.
Is it a high risk? Â Maybe, maybe not. Â There’s certainly not enough data to confirm one way or the other at this point. As for me, I’m personally not willing to trust a huge corporation to properly source my healthy fats – the fats that build my children’s brain and support their immune function.
The lesson to be learned from Mary’s experience from my perspective is that you get what you pay for whether it be coconut oil or any other food item. Buying coconut oil at Costco, Walmart or some other big box retailer that bases stocking decisions primarily on low price obtained via buying huge quantities at once is a big risk that what you get is going to be poor quality coconut oil that is either potentially blended with cheap oils or is a Grade B, poorly filtered product. Cheap oil that is subject to rancidity and loaded with free radicals risks your health.
It may look and smell fine when you open the jar, but the real test is does it stay looking and smelling fine in a hot pantry or garage after several months?
You can’t tell just by looking at it or tasting it that is 100% virgin coconut oil that has been properly filtered.
Just like with extra virgin olive oil, the only way to ensure a quality product is to buy from a quality small business, not a big box retailer like Costco that buys large amounts of inventory from manufacturers and dumps it on the consumer market at ultra cheap prices. Â While you may get a decent product for a cheap price some of the time, I personally am not willing to take the chance with my healthy fats – the most critical aspect of Traditional Diet – that it will be a quality purchase 100% of the time like what would happen if I bought from a small, trusted producer.
Anything can happen and frequently does as a food item makes its way through the Industrial Food Distribution System!
UPDATE: Since this article was published in June 2013, dozens of other consumers have emailed me with stories of rock bottom priced, poor quality coconut oil being purchased not just at Costco, but other Big Box retailers. Â Buyer beware!
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
More Information
Coconut Oil May Not Be Right for You
MCT Oil: The Coconut Oil Dregs
I am on my 3rd jar from Costco in Ontario Canada. My first jar lasted over a year and lived through melting over and over again over a summer and remained smelling delicious.
My 3rd jar now has melted and hardened several times and my kids have hidden it and lost the lid a few times. Still smells and tastes perfect. Not sure what you are talking about…
I completely agree. I have also always bought my coconut oil from Costco in Mississauga and never had an issue. Also the label does not say “extra virgin” anywhere it simply says “Organic Coconut Oil” and underneath “Virgin, Cold-pressed”.
This is just my 2 cents. But, I used to buy Nutiva because I heard so many great things about it. Then, I also noticed the brown sediment on the bottom. It didn’t bother me as I figured it was just from the coconut shell. The thing that DOES bother me about Nutiva AND many other brands is the burnt taste. I have tried SEVERAL brands of “EVCO” and there are only three companies I have found so far that produce a very good, light and sweet tasting oil. One is from Mountain Rose Herbs. The second is Earth Circle Organics. The third I cannot remember right now, but I purchased it from Jimbo’s health food store in Southern CA. It is produced in Mexico in the volcanic soil, but they do not sell large containers of it. In my opinion, they have the best tasting oil in the market. Every oil I have purchased acts just like coconut oil should. But, for me, it’s the taste that will keep me as a customer. If it tastes burnt or rancid that tells me it either is being processed using a higher heat than advertised or it’s old oil.
Well, as distasteful (ha) as this discussion has been, the good news for me is that I didn’t even know Costco sold coconut oil, so now that’s at the top of my list for the next visit!
I’ve just added coconut oil to my Costco list too. Along with a few other products I didn’t know Costco sold and that I learned about from other posters to this article.
I have learned through the comments that Costco isn’t as abhorrent as other big box stores. I didn’t know they paid their workers well (insurance, benefits), had a low profit margin and made money from memberships, or that they had such strict standards. I will do more research but I have less misgivings about starting to shop at Costco 🙂
I am sure you want to be correct and responsible in your statements. ! I do NOT work for Costco but have sold food products to Costco over the last 27 years and want to let you know that you statement “big box retailer like Costco that buys excess inventory from manufacturers and dumps it on the consumer market…” is not accurate. The majority of their purchases are products developed for them in content and or packaging. Their standards are very high and they exist to answer the wishes, needs of their members. Prices are kept low by negotiating with manufacturers and by making very low profit margins – lower than any other class of trade.
I suspect that the dry grocery food buyer (they have 8 who purchase for the 8 regions) who selected this was not up to speed in this expanding market or this was a bad shipment. They do focus on purchasing from quality manufacturers that they trust through research and experience. They have limited item selection and will have several manufacturers bidding to supply each item. I am sure that Costco would appreciate you returning the product for a refund and telling them what you have learned. You can follow that up with a phone call or note to the buyer also and / or place a note in the suggestion box in the front of each store.
The buyers do make mistakes but all in all Costco is a retailer concerned with quality as well as value. I speak from personal experience in developing food products for them using their very strict standard.
PS – I too live in TX and most of the year my coconut oil is melted – just sitting the pantry. It is hot here much of the year.
Yes I totally agree with this (and I don’t word there either 🙂 Costco is the most responsible box stores there is. At least in my town.
I know several Costco buyers and everything you say is true. Costco operates on a very low profit margin and is able to offer low prices because they buy so much volume. My local WAPF buying group does the exact same thing with bulk buys. They don’t buy up clearance or one off inventory.
Last year Tropicsl Traditions had their end of year “clearance” sale of the previous year’s inventory of coconut oil. I suppose this would be called inferior or B quality coconut oil. It has been totally fine (though I don’t leave it in ridiculously hot places.)
I have never used the Carrington brand. I do however purchase Nutiva Coconut oil from Costco all the time. It is the same quality oil and brand that I was previously purchasing from health food and vitamin stores, simply at a much better price. I also purchase all of my olive oil from Costco. I have absolutely no complaints. I have only ever received products of excellent quality, taste and smell. I have never had any of the oils I purchase from Costco go bad. I suspect this was a case of accidental contamination by the lady who opened and used the product previously. I love your site but I do feel that this was an unfair review of Costco’s quality. Not everything that is at a good price is inferior. I, like most families these days, have very little extra money. I choose to purchase quality products at the best price I can find. I trust Costco and that trust has been rewarded with quality at low prices for decades now. The only time that I ever experienced coconut oil spoilage was after I purchased a very expensive coconut oil from a specialty ingredients company online. It turned out to be far inferior to my Nutiva from Costco so I went back to Costco for my next oil purchase. Despite your assertion that “you get what you pay for”, it has been my experience that high prices do not ensure a quality product.
Thanks – you are absolutely correct. Sarah’s post is completely irresponsible, and her follow up comments even more so. Very unfortunate from a blogger I used to respect.
I’m Canadian it’s illegal not to have other oils not listed so I say that this is really not a issue with this brand. One person states her’s went bad and now there is a boycott. Sorry but not buying it.
I may be strange but i always store my coconut oil in the fridge, only taking out small amounts as needed. It is kind of a hassle because it does become rock hard, therefore the large container does have to sit on counter before I can scoop my weekly amount out…
I cannot imagine storing anything in the 100 degree garage, that would be consumed later…
I just ck’d mine and yes the Jarrows formula is also labeled with “extra virgin”. Ha!
Want to mention that the very first coconut oil I bought online, at iherb.com I think, said to refrigerate after opening. It wasn’t till I purchased from Tropical Traditions that I learned that good quality coconut oil NEVER needs to be refrigerated.
So if you see a label that says ‘refrigerate after opening’ that should be a red flag that it is not pure coconut oil, even if it says that it is … IMHO
Also wanted to let you know that Wilderness Family Naturals has one of their top line coconut oils listed as “Wilderness Family Naturals’ Centrifuged, Extra Virgin Coconut Oil”…..and I consider their products to be some of the best out there, with GREAT reputation.
I buy most of my coconut oil in 5 gal buckets from Tropical Traditions but it is the ‘no-flavor’ coconut oil (expellier pressed) that I prefer. Occasionally I like to use Nutiva brand from Costco cuz it has the coconut flavor. I have had no problems with it but I use it up fairly fast.
Regarding ‘how can they sell it so cheap’ … cuz Costco contracts with companies to buy huge amounts which brings the price down.
Regarding the Extra Virgin Coconut Oil … my belief is that companies know that the general population ‘perceives’ extra virgin to be better than VCO and to snag the customer that might look at both kinds of labels they put EVCO on their labels. Unless companies are going to explain on their labels that their is no such thing as EVCO, I think the practice will continue. Companies don’t want to lose customers because the customers are uneducated about the process etc.
Actually my local Costco carries a brand of coconut oil (I think it is HAIN) but the label says that it is processed in a facility that also does p-nuts. My family has nut allergies and I cannot use this brand. My daughter’s local Costco carries the Nutiva brand with no disclosure about facility that processes p-nuts, so that is why we buy the Nutiva brand. So far we are very happy with it.