Fats and Oils for Human Consumption

Fats and oils for human consumption are usually separated into 3 categories: salad and cooking oils, frying oils, and solid fats. The quality issues of edible oils include oxidative stability, nutrient composition, and functionality.

Salad and Cooking Oils

Bland flavor, light color, good stability, and manufacturing processing and packaging flexibility are important for salad and cooking oils. Good choices to meet these requirements are polyunsaturated and monounsaturated oils. Less polyunsaturated fat is preferred to minimize the likelihood of rancidity and the need for refrigeration. This type of salad or cooking oils also is suitable for in-home 1-time deep frying and pan frying. The need for trans fatty acid reduction in this type of liquid oils is not an issue because most salad or in-home cooking oils on the market today do not contain trans fatty acids and cooking this type of oil in one’s kitchen does not produce trans fatty acids.

Frying Oils

Commercial frying applications include restaurant frying such as the preparation of deep-fried foods and packaged foods such as snack chips.

Oils for commercial frying require stability related to the thermal deterioration processes of oxidation, hydrolysis, and polymerization. For consumer acceptance, the fatty acid composition of the oils needs to have 20% to 30% linoleic acid to produce a desirable full deep-fried flavor to the foods; however, higher levels of linoleic acid might introduce "off"-flavors from oxidation. For restaurant use, oils need to be stable because a long fry life is required and the oil has to withstand the high temperatures of commercial frying.

Food manufacturers prefer stable oils that can also tolerate high temperatures and allow an extended shelf life for foods after they are packaged.

Stable frying oils are characterized by increased amounts of oleic acid (preferably in the moderate range of 50% to 65%), decreased amounts of linoleic acid (preferably in the 20% to 30% range), and decreased amounts of linolenic acid (preferably no more than 3%). It has been common to acquire stable commercial frying oils by changing the fatty acid composition by partial hydrogenation. Potential alternatives to partially hydrogenated oils for commercial frying include naturally stable oils such as corn, cottonseed, palm, peanut, and rice bran and modified fatty acid oils such as mid-oleic corn, high-oleic/low-linolenic canola, high-oleic sunflower, mid-oleic sunflower, low-linolenic soybean, and mid-oleic/low-linolenic soybean oils . In choosing trans fatty acid–free frying oils, consider the cost, availability, oxidative stability, functionality in terms of the appearance and texture, flavor, and nutrient composition of the option. Specifically, some of these oils such as animal fats and tropical oils contain high amounts of saturated fats and should not be considered as replacements.


World - Edible Oil Consumption

Oil Name World,%
Soybean 30
Palm 29
Rapeseed (canola) 15
Sunflower seed 8
Peanut 5
Cottonseed 4
Palm kernel 3
Coconut 3
Olive 3
Corn 1
Edible tallow 1
Lard 1
Other 3
Total, million metric tons 106