Marketing of rapeseed oil in Canada

The History and Marketing of Rapeseed Oil in Canada B. First Commercial Production... 

It was not until 1956-1957 that rapeseed oil was again extracted and used for edible purposes. Since then, food use of rapeseed oil in Canada and Western Europe has surpassed the industrial usage. This era also marked the beginning of a Western Canadian based industry now consisting of nine crushing plants with a rated daily crushing capacity of approximately 5.0 thousand tonnes. The market has expanded rapidly as growers, processors, and refiners have learned how to handle the crop and produce quality products. 

Rapeseed cultivar development in Canada has evolved significantly over the last 60 years to include a wide range of oil types for both edible and industrial oil markets. This chapter provides a brief overview of the development of rapeseed types in Canada with a primary focus on the development of industrial oil types. 

In describing canola/rapeseed oil food uses, the Canadian experience is of significant interest for a number of reasons. First, canola/rapeseed was originally developed and introduced in Canada commercially so that considerable experience in using canola oil in edible oil products has been accumulated over a longer period of time. Second, canola, after its introduction, rapidly became the most important oilseed crop and the most heavily used edible oil in Canada, as documented below. Third, the Canadian edible oil products market demanded a variety of high-quahty products, which led edible oil producers to develop many uses for canola oil as well as find applications especially suited for it. 

In the Orient, both rapeseed and mustard oils are used extensively for food and large quantities of mustard are produced for oil in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. In Canada and Europe there is no production of mustard oil for edible oil purposes. All edible Canadian rapeseed oil is now from canola varieties, i.e., derived from seed low in erucic acid and low in glucosino-lates. High erucic acid rapeseed oil is used exclusively for industrial purposes, such as lubricants, slip agents for molds, and polymers. In Canada these high erucic acid oils are produced and marketed separately from canola oil. Rapeseed oils in the Western World are either very low in erucic acid for edible use or very high (over 40%) in erucic acid for industrial use. 

Cooperative research on many aspects of rapeseed processing and utilization has resulted in rapeseed oil (now termed canola oil) becoming the most widely used edible oil in the domestic market in Canada. Canola oil is the oil derived from the rapeseed varieties grown in Canada which are low in erucic acid and low in glucosinolates. 

The term canola, accentuating the excellent quality factors the plant breeders have introduced into canola seed, is a significant step forward in marketing. The nutritional content of double low canola seed is superior to the old varieties of rapeseed in respect to both the oil and meal. Since Canada is leading the world at the moment in the development of the double low varieties this gives her a distinct advantage in expanding market share for these products. 

Rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) is the third largest oil crop after soybean and oil palm, with 12% of the world oil market and the main production areas in Europe (35%), China (26%), India (14%), and Canada (8%). Canola oil (double zero rapeseed) developed through conventional plant breeding from rapeseed is used for the production of margarine, spreads, dairy blends, animal feed, emulsifiers, vitamin E, healthy cooking oils, etc. 

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