Animal fats most important commercial

Industrial lecithins from a variety of sources ate utilized (Tables 2 and 3). The main sources include vegetable oils (eg, soy bean, cottonseed, corn, sunflower, tapeseed) and animal tissues (egg and bovine brain). However, egg lecithin and in particular soy lecithin (Table 4) ate by fat the most important in terms of quantities produced. So much so that the term soy lecithin and commercial lecithin ate often used synonymously. 

Nearly all the commercially important fats and oils of animal and plant origin consist almost exclusively of this simple lipid class. The fatty acid composition can vary enormously. In seed oils, the Cis unsaturated fatty acids tend to predominate. In animal fats, especially those of adipose tissue origin, the fatty acid composition reflects that of the diet to some extent, but Cie and Cis fatty acids are the most abundant components. Fish triacylglycerols and those of marine mammals differ from others in that they contain a high proportion of C20 and C22 polyunsaturated fatty acids. The compositions of natural oils and fats have been reviewed recently [686]. 

Oils and fats feature as important food components and cooking oils, some 80% of commercial production being used as human food, whilst animal feeds account for another 6%. Most of the remaining production is used as the basis of soaps, detergents, and pharmaceutical creams and ointments. A number of oils are used as diluents (carrier or base oils) for the volatile oils employed in aromatherapy. 

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