What is vegetable oil? definition of vegetable oil

Oil solvent extraction machine

Oil extracted by traditional methods often requires various preliminary operations, such as cracking, shelling, dehulling, etc., after which the crop is ground to a paste. The paste, or the whole fruit, is then boiled with water and stirred until the oil separates and can be collected. Such traditional methods have a low rate of efficiency, particularly when performed manually. Oil extracted by pressing without heating is the purest method and often produces an edible product without refining.

Vegetable oil -refined.

Crude vegetable oils are obtained without further processing other than degumming or filtering. To make them suitable for human consumption, most edible vegetable oils are refined to remove impurities and toxic substances, a process which involves bleaching, deodorization and cooling (to make the oils stable in cold temperatures). The loss involved in these processes ranges from 4 to 8 percent. The FAO concept includes raw, refined and fractioned oils, but not chemically modified oils.
Vegetable oils have a wide variety of food uses, including salad and cooking oils, as well as in the production of margarine, shortening and compound fat. They also enter into many processed products, such as mayonnaise, mustard, potato chips, French fries, salad dressing, sandwich spread and canned fish.
Industrial and non-food uses of vegetable oils include the production of soaps, detergents, fatty acids, paint, varnish, resin, plastic and lubricants.