How are vegetable oils produced?
4 main steps to produce quality vegetable oils:
Preparation
Rapeseed, sunflower, and other seeds are cleaned and prepared to be processed into oil or meal for animal feed.
Crushing
Mechanical crushing—either hot or cold—is the first step that allows the seeds to be transformed into oil.
This crushing is followed by a second extraction phase using hexane*.
The goal? To extract nearly all the oil contained in rapeseed or sunflower seeds to meet consumer food needs.
Purification
The oil recovered from the seeds is heated to eliminate the hexane.
This third step ensures a high-quality oil that is:
- neutral in taste and translucent in color,
- more resistant to oxidation,
- free of residues.
Bottling
The purified oil is now ready for consumption.
Rigorous controls ensure the products comply with current regulations and are completely safe for consumers.
*What is hexane?
Hexane is a processing aid commonly used in the food industry.
For rapeseed and sunflower oils, it is used during the extraction phase to recover any remaining oil from seeds that were already mechanically pressed. Its use is strictly regulated.