Vegetable oil is extracted from the seeds or fruits of oilseed plants, which are those that contain a high amount of lipids. There are several methods to extract vegetable oils, and one of them is cold pressing. This process is completely mechanical and is carried out at a low temperature, which allows all the essential fatty acids, vitamin E and natural antioxidants present in the oil to be preserved, without the need to add additives. The first extraction, known as "first pressing", produces a pure extract of the oleaginous fruit, without adulterations. It is important to distinguish between a vegetable oil and an oily macerate. Vegetable oil is obtained by first cold pressing the seeds or oleaginous fruits, being similar to a pure lipid juice. On the other hand, oil macerates are obtained by macerating parts of a plant in a vegetable oil for several weeks, which enriches the oil with the active ingredients of the selected plant. Both vegetable oils and oily macerates are useful and can be used similarly in various applications.
How to recognize a quality vegetable oil?
A quality vegetable oil is virgin and certified organic or 100% organic.
The term "virgin" can only be attributed to a vegetable oil if it meets several specific criteria established in the regulations:
- First cold pressure
- Cleared by physical or mechanical means
- No physical or chemical refining treatments
Virgin oil can reveal an acidity level of up to 3%, unlike extra virgin oil, which contains less than 1% acidity. The term "extra virgin" is a designation that refers only to olive oil.
To obtain the Certified Organic or 100% Organic label, vegetable oils must come from agricultural production free of synthetic chemicals and whose crops are located in areas protected from external contamination. Obtained solely by cold mechanical pressing, organically certified vegetable oils are labeled to allow product traceability from field to table.
The "organic" certification depends on authorized inspection bodies that verify compliance with current regulations.
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