Rapeseed, Sunflower & Vegetable Oil

The market for edible oils is expanding. The five most popular types of oil are vegetable, rapeseed, sunflower, coconut and olive oil.

Vegetable/rapeseed and olive oils are bought by about four in ten people, while a third buy sunflower oils. Demand for coconut oil has grown rapidly in recent years, although it is still only purchased by 7% of consumers. 2017/18 saw demand dip slightly, although only time will tell if this is a trend.

What is vegetable oil?

In the UK, most versions of this enigmatically named oil will actually be rapeseed oil. This is true of all the major supermarkets’ own-brand vegetable oils, except Morrisons’, which is made from sunflower oil.

KTC is another exception: its vegetable oil is made of GM soyabean oil with an added anti-foaming agent, while Mazola’s oil is made from corn.

Rapeseed, sunflower and vegetable oils

The EU produces most of the world’s rapeseed oil while the leading provider of sunflower oil is Ukraine, followed by Russia and the EU.

Presumably due to where they are grown, you don’t really get Fairtrade versions of these oils.

Supermarket own-brands make up the majority of the market, standing at 57% in 2016/17. The other major player in the market is Edible Oils, a company that is jointly owned by Princes (Mitsubishi), and the Archer Daniels Midland Company.

From the sales of its top three brands: Crisp ‘n Dry, Flora and Pura, it holds about 32% of the market for general cooking oils.

Organic Rapeseed

In order to support the most sustainable farming practices, we recommend you buy organic, especially from brands that ranked highly in our table, although most supermarkets now offer organic own-brands.

However, although a large amount of rapeseed is produced in the UK, organic rapeseed oil is thin on the ground.

The only organic rapeseed oil grown and produced in the UK that we could find was Stringers Organic Rapeseed Oil, a venture between J Stringer & Sons and Yorkshire Rapeseed Oil.

The bad news is that, due to poor yields, stocks are currently sold out. But we have been assured that they will continue to produce organic rapeseed oil in future, so keep your eyes peeled.

Refined vs. cold-pressed

Most oils are refined, meaning that the oil has been extracted through a process involving chemicals and high temperatures. However, recent years have seen the advent of cold-pressed oils, especially rapeseed, where oil is extracted by simply pressing the crop.

Cold-pressing is not only a more ecological method of production but also creates a healthier oil, preserving the naturally occurring vitamins and anti-oxidants, which would be destroyed through the process of high-temperature refining.

The only downside to cold pressing is that it is much less efficient.

According to Hillfarm Oils, a company that produces cold-pressed rapeseed, cold pressing abstracts 70% of the oil from the seed, compared to 98% abstracted through the refining process. Consumers are therefore likely to pay a higher price, but higher demand has meant cold-pressed oils are now widely available, with many new brands coming from UK producers, such as: Borderfields, Hillfarm Oils, Stringers/Yorkshire Rapeseed, and Farrington’s Mellow Yellow.

GM rapeseed oil

Farmers in the EU are prevented from growing most GM crops, including rapeseed.

In February 2019, the French authorities found minute quantities of GM seeds in batches sold by Dekalb, a brand owned by Bayer. The product was recalled, but some of the seed had already been sown, resulting in farmers proceeding to dig up the thousands of hectares of contaminated land: about 8,000 hectares in France and 3,000 hectares in Germany.

However, the importation of products made from GM inputs is allowed, so long as it has been designated as safe. Thus, if you wish to avoid oils made from GM crops buy products that are produced in the EU. Any products that do contain GM inputs must also state so on the packaging.

Companies that have openly stated their support for GM are: Cargill, Archer Daniels Midland and KTC.

Table highlights

The following companies received Ethical Consumer’s worst rating for likely use of tax avoidance strategies: Archer Daniels Midland, Cargill, KKR, Lidl, Marks & Spencer, Mitsubishi, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Waitrose, and Walmart (Asda).

Many of big companies use their finances to gain political influence, something which we mark companies down for, under our Political Activities category. The following (and their employees) donated to political parties: ADM, The Co-op, KKR, Mitsubishi, Walmart (Asda).

In the Co-op’s case, this was only donations to the Cooperative Party. In the US companies are banned from directly donating to political parties but often do so through their employees, including large donations from senior staff. In the 2018 election cycle, ADM gave a total of $329,265 in political donations. Of that, $108,251 went to Democrats and $197,667 went to Republicans.

ADM declares on its website:

“ADM’s Board of Directors believes that participation in the political process is an important element of our business, one undertaken for the benefit of all company stakeholders.”

How do cooking oils compare?

So, which type of oil should the ethical consumer buy? We would argue that the main issue is not which type of oil but, rather, which brand.

There are, however, some factors that may influence your decision on type. When it comes to greenhouse gas emissions, the difference is not that significant, particularly as oil is itself likely to be a very small portion of your carbon footprint, although coconut oil produces the lowest emissions and olive oil the highest, as shown:

If you are wanting to buy from UK farmers, then rapeseed is really your only option, although supplies of organic UK rapeseed are few and far between. Generally speaking, the vegetable oils rapeseed and sunflower oil use the most pesticides and fertilisers, but this can be avoided through the purchasing of organic oil.

The environmental impact of five different oils

The table above gives an idea of the typical environmental impacts in the production of five crops used to produce widely used oils.

Fertilisers are generally used for all crops but are relied upon least in the production of coconuts and palm fruit. The production of coconuts and palm fruit also requires extremely few pesticides. This explains why organic coconut is so widely available.

Olive production generally uses a notable amount of pesticide, but this figure is relatively low in comparison to the amount used in the production of rapeseed and sunflower oil. Organic rapeseed and sunflower oils are available but are less common than organic olive or coconut oils.

It could be deduced from this table that the oil with the least environmental impact is palm oil, due to its high yield and low amounts of fertilisers and pesticides used. There is some truth in this, and its high yield is one reason, alongside its versatility, why it has been favoured by so many companies.

However, thus far palm oil has been produced in an incredibly unsustainable way, resulting in the mass destruction of habitat.