3 Crucial Factors to Consider while Choosing Cooking Oils

Cooking oil is a part and parcel of almost every human being living on the planet. Be it cooking, frying, or salad dressing, we use cooking oils every day in different forms. But when it comes to choosing the best cooking oil, it might be a tough task for any layman to spot all the crucial differences between good and mediocre cooking oils.

In the times when people across the globe are either knowingly or unknowingly living a sedentary lifestyle with no willingness to get involved in the physical activities, it becomes more necessary to choose the cooking oil that is good for health for different parameters, and is processed through the most sophisticated equipments for oil extraction.

This blog sheds light on 3 key facts that you need to consider while buying any cooking oil:

1. Smoking point

Today, a large number of cooking oils are available in the market with different smoking points. Not everybody is familiar with the smoke point of cooking oils but it is necessary when it comes to evaluating the goodness or suitability of oils from the perspective of health. In a nutshell, the smoking point is the temperature range at which different cooking oils start burning and degrading. There might be variations in the smoking points of different oils depending upon the process they are extracted and processed in an oil extraction plant. The higher the smoking point oil has the better it would be considered to serve frying and cooking purposes.

A look at the smoking point of different fats:

2. Extraction Method/Refining

Oil producers around the globe make use of different oil extraction methodologies to produce oil.

• Cold-pressed
• Expeller-pressed, and
• Chemical solvent, hexane.

The cold pressing methodology is well known for maintaining high quality in the oil with minimum processing of the oil-bearing seeds. As a consumer, you can check whether the oil you are going to buy is cold-pressed or not. To ascertain it, you can see the label wherein the extraction methodology is printed clearly. On the other hand, extreme pressure works in the expeller-pressed oils. All expeller-pressed oils are refined after the extraction process is completed.

Finally, chemical refining is a process in which a chemical solvent called hexane is used to extract the oils. This methodology is used to mass-produce the oil to meet the needs of millions of people across the globe. This process is considered to be cost-effective and is ideal when it comes to producing oils commercially. Some of the top industrialized variants like sunflower and safflower oils are extracted through the chemical solvent, hexane.

Since the chemically produced oils are cheap and cost-effective for both manufacturers and consumers, they can be found in a wide range of processed foods and snacks not only in India but also across the globe. All oils that are extracted through the use of hexane always call for further purification and filtration in a sophisticated vegetable oil refinery. Their refining process includes the following:

• Degumming
• Bleaching
• Deodorizing, and

Here, it would be good to note that heavily processed oils might be good at their shelf life but most of their valuable nutrients get destroyed to a large degree. This is the reason highly processed and refined oils are considered to be poor on the nutritional front. Therefore, it can be concluded that cold-pressed oils are always best for health as they are not heavily processed and maintain their maximum nutritional value. You can always buy them without any second thought.

3. Fatty Acid Profile

When buying any oil for cooking purposes, looking at the fatty acid profile of the oils is also necessary. However, it might be hard for a layman to conclude anything when it comes to considering the fatty acid profile of different oils. But, it is not rocket science to obtain information in this regard. Oils such as cottonseed, corn, soybean, sunflower, and safflower are considered to be rich in omega fatty acids contents. Omega 6 fatty acids play a very important role in the functioning of human body and therefore they are called essential fatty acids.

An essential fatty acid is one that the human body cannot produce on its own, and therefore, we have to consume it from external sources as part of our diet. However, it is also mandatory to strike a perfect balance in the amounts of the fatty acids while consuming them. Scientists have recently hypothesized that if we don’t maintain an appropriate balance between omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids, we may surely fall prey to different types of chronic inflammations. More research work is however being carried out on this topic to understand the effect of different fatty acids on the human body.

Therefore, while buying any cooking oil, you need to be very particular about the fatty acid profile. These days, almost all the reputed manufacturers are clearly defining the fatty acid ratio on the label for the easy and hassle-free understanding of the common consumers.

Concluding Remarks

Mectech is one of the leading Oil Processing Plant Manufacturers & Suppliers in India offering a comprehensive range of equipments for oil extraction as well as oil extraction plant. The company has been manufacturing customized plant and machinery, and turnkey projects for the oil and fats industry for around 5 decades. With its 4 state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities, the company manufactures and supplies projects as per ASME & CE Standards, and also it has the capability of manufacturing projects as per any world standard, specific to any country.