Oils

The major oils traded and used in food and feed industry are: soybean oil, olive oil, sunflower oil, rapeseed oil, safflower oil. these are used from various industries and are considered as critical raw materials for their needs.

Olive oil varies in colour from clear yellow to golden; some varieties obtained from unripe fruit have a greenish tinge. Oils of varying characteristics and qualities are produced by almost every country that grows olives, the variations depending on the district and the ripeness of the fruit.

Soybean oil is a kind of widely used vegetable oil. It is used by food industry in a variety of food products including salad dressings, sandwich spreads, margarine, bread, mayonnaise, non-dairy coffee creamers and snack foods.

Sunflower plant having the botanical name Helianthus annuus, is the source of one of the most popular vegetable oils, i.e., sunflower oil. Sunflower crop is cultivated in many countries around the world including India. Different types of sunflower seeds are available which contain oils having different unsaturation.

Rapeseed oil has long been used in industry as a lubricant for engines and other machine parts, but, because of its high level of potentially harmful erucic acid, it was not considered safe for human consumption (though it was sometimes added to animal feed). It was not until the 1970s, when Canadian scientists developed a hybrid that contained a very low level of erucic acid, that experimentation began to place rapeseed oil among the vegetable oils available for use in cooking.

Safflower oil does not yellow with age, making it useful in preparing varnish and paint. Most of the oil, however, is consumed in the form of soft margarines, salad oil, and cooking oil. It is highly valued for dietary reasons because of its high proportion of polyunsaturated fats. The meal, or cake residue, is used as a protein supplement for livestock.