Products · Olive oil · Séka Hills
Séka Hills Estate Arbequina Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 500 mL (2025 harvest)
Reader ratings
California single-variety oil from a tribal estate, with a harvest date and a state testing program behind it. Mamavation’s lab found phthalates in the brand’s oil, but in its lowest group. The maker posts no lab results.
Best for Readers who want an everyday California extra virgin oil from a named estate, in dark glass, at a middle price, and accept that the maker posts no chemistry.
- Our rating
- Fair (3.3 of 5)
- Price range
- Mid-range
- Size
- 500 mL dark green glass bottle (the maker also sells 250 mL, 3 L and 9 L)
- Made in
- Capay Valley, California; grown, milled and bottled by the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation
approx. $25 for 500 mL (about $50 a liter)
See it on Séka Hills’s site → (opens in a new tab)We are not affiliated with Séka Hills. This link goes to the maker’s own page, with no tracking code. How we're funded.
Also sold at Market Hall Foods ($36.95 for 500 ml) .
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Reviews are personal experiences, not research, and they never change our quality ratings. Every review is read by our team before it appears.
How we evaluated it
How it scores Our rating, metric by metric
- Freshness & quality 30% of the rating 3 of 5
Extra virgin with a harvest date (October and November 2025) and one named place and variety, but no acidity, peroxide or polyphenol figures are posted.
- Independent testing 30% of the rating 3 of 5
In California’s mandatory testing program, and Mamavation’s lab put the brand’s oil in its lowest phthalate group at 561 ppb, but that is not none and the sample was not this vintage.
- Packaging 15% of the rating 4 of 5
A dark green glass bottle with a black screw cap in Market Hall Foods’ photo of the 500 ml bottle. The closure material is not stated, and the maker’s page does not describe the packaging.
- Trust 10% of the rating 3 of 5
No recalls, Prop 65 notices or FDA actions found, but its “certified” wording names no certifier and its COOC seal is not on the list after 2022.
- Value 15% of the rating 4 of 5
$25 for 500 mL is about $50 a liter, under Kasandrinos’s $64 and McEvoy Ranch’s $58 to $107.
The rating, 3.3 of 5, is the weighted average of these scores. See how we rank olive oil and our standard.
Where to buy Stores and the prices we saw
- Market Hall Foods (opens in a new tab) approx. $36.95 for 500 ml. Specialty grocer in Oakland, California. Its page gives size 500 ml, Arbequina and harvest date fall 2025, and the add-to-cart button was live on 2026-11-03. About $12 more than the maker’s $25.
Prices as we saw them on November 3, 2026. They change often. These links carry no tracking code and earn us nothing.
What’s in it Every ingredient, in label order
- Arbequina olives
Who tested it What each test found, and who paid for it
- Paid certification Olive Oil Commission of California (state program; the producer pays assessments) 2026
Seka Hills is a mandatory member on the commission’s 2025 to 2026 list of Members in Good Standing. The commission says that means it takes part in the government sampling and testing program and that its labels are verified by independent chemical and sensory laboratory analysis. The list gives no results for a particular bottle, and the commission’s sampling page links “Handler Testing & Reporting Forms”, so no per-bottle results are published. Open ↗ (opens in a new tab)
- Independent Mamavation (EPA-certified lab, not named; the site earns affiliate income) July 2024
Found 561 ppb of total phthalates in a Seka Hills extra virgin olive oil, in its group with the least phthalates (under 1,200 ppb). Every other oil it tested except Kasandrinos had phthalates too, up to 6,092 ppb. The public article names no variety, size or harvest. Open ↗ (opens in a new tab)
Who paid, and why it matters
- Independent The tester took no money from the maker for it: a consumer group, a journalist, a university or a regulator.
- Paid certification An outside lab or certifier tested or listed it, and the maker paid for that.
- Maker’s own test A lab report or certificate of analysis the maker commissioned and published.
A certification is a floor, not a verdict: it checks what its program checks and nothing else. We weigh tests by someone with no stake in the result most.
What people ask Worries raised online and elsewhere, and what we found
- Does it contain phthalates, like most olive oils?
- The brand’s oil had some. Mamavation’s lab (opens in a new tab) found 561 ppb in a Seka Hills extra virgin oil, which put it in the lowest group, and nearly every oil it tested had some. That oil was bought before this 2025 harvest, and the article does not say which variety it was. See our phthalates guide.
- Is it certified extra virgin, and by whom?
- The maker’s home page calls its oils “certified extra virgin” and names no certifier. California’s commission lists Seka Hills as a mandatory member of its sampling and testing program (members list (opens in a new tab)), which is a state check. The brand was on the California Olive Oil Council’s seal list from 2020 to 2022 but not in 2023 to 2025 (2025 list (opens in a new tab)), so we do not count a seal. The maker posts no chemistry for the oil.
- How fresh is the bottle I will get?
- The maker’s page says harvest October and November 2025. Our olive oil guide advises using oil within a year of harvest, so a 2025 bottle is at that limit in November 2026. Amazon’s 250 mL listing, sold by the maker, still showed the 2024 harvest on 2026-11-02, so check the harvest year before you buy.
- Is the bottle dark glass, and what is the cap?
- Market Hall Foods’ photo of the 500 ml bottle shows a tall dark green glass bottle with a black screw cap. The maker’s product page does not describe the packaging or the cap material, and we did not hold a bottle.
- Any recalls, lawsuits or warnings?
- None found. California’s Prop 65 notice search had no match for Seka Hills or Yocha Dehe, and openFDA’s food enforcement search has no entry for either, searched 2 Nov 2026.
Why we chose it What put it on our list
- It is a named, single-variety oil from one place. The page gives Arbequina, Capay Valley, a harvest of October and November 2025, and a grower, the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, that grows, mills and bottles it.
- A state program covers it. Seka Hills is a mandatory member of the Olive Oil Commission of California, on its 2025 to 2026 list of Members in Good Standing.
- An outside lab put the brand’s oil in its lowest phthalate group: 561 ppb, when 22 of 36 oils had more than 1,200 and the highest had 6,092.
- At $25 for 500 mL, about $50 a liter, it costs less than the other documented oils we list, and it comes in a dark green glass bottle.
Trade-offs What to weigh before you buy
- The maker posts no acidity, peroxide or polyphenol figures, and the product page says nothing about packaging or the cap. The “certified” wording names no certifier, and its seal from the California Olive Oil Council lapsed after 2022.
- Mamavation’s result is not none, and it came from an earlier bottle of a variety the article does not name. Nobody has tested this vintage for phthalates.
- The 2025 harvest is about a year old now, and Amazon’s 250 mL listing still showed 2024 oil. Check the harvest year on the bottle.
- The maker sells the 500 mL bottle at $25, and the only other seller we could confirm is Market Hall Foods at $36.95. Amazon’s storefront for the brand sells 250 mL, 3 L and 9 L, and the 3 L comes in a box, not in glass or a tin.
What to know Details worth knowing first
Séka Hills is the olive oil of the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, grown, milled and bottled in the Capay Valley. This is its 2025 Arbequina: one variety, one place, a harvest date on the page, and a dark green glass bottle. We list it because the evidence we can check is mostly good. California’s state commission lists the brand as a mandatory member of its testing program, and Mamavation’s lab found less phthalate in a Séka Hills oil than in most of the oils it tested, 561 ppb against up to 6,092.
The gaps are real. The maker posts no acidity, peroxide or polyphenol numbers, calls its oils “certified” without naming a certifier, and let its California Olive Oil Council seal lapse after 2022. Mamavation’s oil was an earlier bottle, and it still had phthalates. The 2025 oil is about a year old now, and Amazon’s listing still showed 2024. That is why it is a 3.3 and not higher.
At about $50 a liter it is the least expensive documented oil here. If you want the chemistry on the table, McEvoy Ranch’s organic oil posts its numbers at more than twice the price, and Kasandrinos has the only clean phthalate result.
What we checked Each claim, and how sure we are of it
| What we checked | What we found |
|---|---|
| A real harvest date Maker’s claim | The product page says Harvest Date: October and November 2025. We did not see the bottle’s own label. |
| An independent seal Verified | On the Olive Oil Commission of California’s 2025 to 2026 list of mandatory members in good standing. The brand was on the California Olive Oil Council’s seal list from 2020 to 2022, not since. |
| Packaging that blocks light Maker’s claim | A dark green glass bottle with a black screw cap in Market Hall Foods’ photo. The maker’s page does not state the packaging. |
| Traceable origin Maker’s claim | Capay Valley, California, one variety (Arbequina), grown, milled and bottled by the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, per the maker. |
| Published chemistry Not verified | None on the product page. We found no acidity, peroxide or polyphenol figures from the maker. |
What the labels mean
- Verified We opened an independent record that confirms it: a certifier’s listing, a regulator’s list or a lab report. It is linked under Sources.
- Maker’s claim The maker says so on its own page or label. We read it but found no independent record.
- Not verified We looked and could not confirm it, or the maker does not say. Treat it as unknown.
Sources Where our facts come from
- Seka Hills: 2025 Arbequina Olive Oil 500ml, product page. Maker’s page. $25 on 2026-11-02 and 2026-11-03; variety, intensity, harvest date, region and grower. The page loads from a store widget, so it needs a browser. The 3 L bag-in-box was $78 and the 250 mL listing on Amazon, sold by the maker, was $18. Open ↗ (opens in a new tab)
- Seka Hills: home page. Maker’s page. Describes the oils as “certified extra virgin” without naming a certifier. Open ↗ (opens in a new tab)
- Olive Oil Commission of California: members in good standing, 2025 to 2026. Certifier or regulator listing. Lists Seka Hills (and McEvoy Ranch) as mandatory members and states the requirements. Open ↗ (opens in a new tab)
- Olive Oil Commission of California: sampling program and member resources. Certifier or regulator listing. Links the CDFA sampling guidance and the handler testing and reporting forms; it publishes no results by brand or bottle. Open ↗ (opens in a new tab)
- California Olive Oil Council: seal certified oils. Certifier or regulator listing. Seal-certified lists by year; Seka Hills appears in 2020, 2021 and 2022 and not in 2023, 2024 or 2025. Open ↗ (opens in a new tab)
- Mamavation: olive oils tested for toxic phthalates. Test report. Seka Hills Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 561 ppb, marked added 15 July 2024. The site earns affiliate income. Open ↗ (opens in a new tab)
- Amazon: Estate Arbequina Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 250 mL, Seka Hills storefront. Independent source. Sold by Séka Hills, $18, with harvest date October and November 2024, seen 2026-11-02. Amazon had no 500 mL listing on 2026-11-03. Open ↗ (opens in a new tab)
- Market Hall Foods: Séka Hills Arbequina Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 500 ml. Independent source. $36.95, size 500 ml, harvest date fall 2025, add to cart live on 2026-11-03; the product photo shows a dark green glass bottle with a black screw cap. Open ↗ (opens in a new tab)
- California Attorney General: Prop 65 60-day notice search. Certifier or regulator listing. Searched by alleged violator for “Seka” and “Yocha Dehe” on 2026-11-02 and “Seka” and “Yocha” on 2026-11-03: no matching records. Open ↗ (opens in a new tab)
- openFDA: food enforcement reports. Certifier or regulator listing. Searched 2026-11-02 and 2026-11-03 for Seka Hills and Yocha Dehe: no entry. Open ↗ (opens in a new tab)