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Concept
Rapeseed oil
Summary
Rapeseed oil is one of the oldest known vegetable oils. There are both edible and industrial forms produced from rapeseed, the seed of several cultivars of the plant family Brassicaceae. Historically, it was restricted as a food oil due to its content of erucic acid, which in laboratory studies was shown to be damaging to the cardiac muscle of laboratory animals in high quantities and which imparts a bitter taste, and glucosinolates, which made it less nutritious in animal feed. Rapeseed oil from standard cultivars can contain up to 54% erucic acid.
Canola oil is a food-grade version derived from rapeseed cultivars specifically bred for low erucic acid content. Also known as low erucic acid rapeseed (LEAR) oil, it has been generally recognized as safe by the United States Food and Drug Administration. Canola oil is limited by government regulation to a maximum of 2% erucic acid by weight in the US, and the EU, with special regulations for infant food. These low levels of erucic acid do not cause harm in humans.
In commerce, non-food varieties are typically called colza oil.
Rapeseed is extensively cultivated in Canada, France, Belgium, Ireland, the United Kingdom, the United States, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, and Poland, Slovenia. In France and Denmark, especially, the extraction of the oil is an important industry.
The name for rapeseed comes from the Latin word rapum meaning turnip. Turnip, rutabaga (swede), cabbage, Brussels sprouts, and mustard are related to rapeseed. Rapeseed belongs to the genus Brassica. Brassica oilseed varieties are some of the oldest plants cultivated by humanity, with documentation of its use in India 4,000 years ago, and use in China and Japan 2,000 years ago. Its use in Northern Europe for oil lamps is documented to the 13th century. Rapeseed oil extracts were first put on the market in 1956–1957 as food products, but these suffered from several unacceptable characteristics. Rapeseed oil had a distinctive taste and a greenish colour, due to the presence of chlorophyll.
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