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What we know and what we should know about virgin oils – a general introduction
Author(s) -
Matthäus Bertrand,
Spener Friedrich
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
european journal of lipid science and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.614
H-Index - 94
eISSN - 1438-9312
pISSN - 1438-7697
DOI - 10.1002/ejlt.200800118
Subject(s) - food science , edible oil , olive oil , vegetable oil , quality (philosophy) , chemistry , environmental science , pulp and paper industry , engineering , philosophy , epistemology
On international scale the Codex Alimentarius Standard for Named Vegetable Oils differentiates between virgin oils and cold‐pressed oils, while in Germany virgin, non‐refined and refined oils are available. Here cold‐pressed is an additional quality feature. The paper explains and comments the various definitions for vegetable oils other than olive oil obtained by mechanical extraction only, because they are partly contradictory. Resulting from gentle processing virgin oils are often appreciated by the consumers as the better oils. The answer of the present paper to the question which type of oil is better is that there is no better or worse oil, but only a better or worse suitability of an oil for application in food processing or the kitchen. Finally, the paper picks up the upcoming debate on the potential ’new' contaminant, 3‐MCPD‐fatty acid esters, which were found in refined oils.