Rapeseed import

In world trade, Japan has for many years been Canada s best customer for rapeseed, importing about 1.0 million tonnes of Canadian seed per year since 1979 (Table VIII). The Netherlands, West Germany, Algeria, Bangladesh and France have also imported considerable quantities of Canadian seed in recent years and other new markets are being developed. 

Soybean meal is the most frequently used source of supplemental protein in the United States (5). Cottonseed meal is another important protein supplement. Both meals are by-products from oil extraction of the seeds. Canola meal is derived from rapeseed low in emcic acid [112-86-7] and glucosinolates. Linseed (derived from flax seed), peanut, sunflower, safflower, sesame, coconut, and palm kernel meals are other sources of supplemental protein that are by-products of oil extraction (4). 

Fatty acids, both saturated and unsaturated, have found a variety of applications. Brassilic acid (1,11-un-decanedicarboxylic acid [BA]), an important monomer used in many polymer applications, is prepared from erucic acid (Scheme 2), obtained from rapeseed and crambe abyssinica oils by ozonolysis and oxidative cleavage [127]. For example, an oligomer of BA with 1,3-butane diol-lauric acid system is an effective plasticizer for polyvinylchloride. Polyester-based polyurethane elastomers are prepared from BA by condensing with ethylene glycol-propylene glycol. Polyamides based on BA are known to impart moisture resistance. 

The plant of choice which can be used for PHA production will be influenced by a number of factors. Of prime importance is cost, i. e., in which crop will PHA production be cheapest. The answer to this question is likely to be different depending on the agricultural economics of each country. For example, if one considers oilseed crops, rapeseed may be the best crop for Northern European countries and Canada, sunflower for Southern European countries, and soybean for the USA. Other important factors which may influence the choice of target plant are the nature of the metabolic pathway that needs to modified for synthesis of a particular PHA, the procedure used for PHA purification, and the other uses of the crop besides PHA production. 

Fig. 3.8 Transgenic rapeseeds expressing the gusA reporter gene were germinated in an airlift tank with streptomycin added to the medium (100 mg L 1). Streptomycin was added 0, 38, 42 or 50 h after germination. When streptomycin is added after 50 h, a 2.5-fold increase in GUS activity can be seen. This indicates the importance of correct timing when streptomycin is added to inhibit endogenous Rubisco gene expression.

Alternatively, refined vegetable oil could be converted to a fuel similar to BTL by hydro-treating, e.g., in a refinery. Rapeseed cake, which is produced as a by-product, is assumed to replace animal fodder, i.e., from imported soybeans. Alternatively, the rapeseed cake can also be converted to biogas. 

For industrial applications, the group of fats and oils is one of the most important. Fats of vegetable and animal origin are used as food, feed, and for industrial proposes. At the beginning of the millennium, the ratio between food, feed, and industry use was 80 6 14. The increasing demand has increased the industrial use of oleocompounds, e.g., 54% of rapeseed oils were used in the year 2006 for industrial proposes. Worldwide, 144 million tons of fatty compounds were produced in 2008. 

A remarkable feature of lipids, either vegetal or animal, is that they share the same fatty acids in triglycerides in the range C12-C20 (Table 14.3). However, there are significant differences in composition. Thus, soybean, sunflower and rapeseed oils are all based on C18 acids, the first two being richer in unsaturated linoleic acid, which could introduce a problem of stability with respect to oxidation. The palm oil has an important amount of C16 acid. Coconut oil is given as an example of Cl2-04 rich oil. As in palm oil the composition of tallow spreads over Cl6-08 acids. 

If that does occur, then the present system of classification of oils may be impossible to police, and a modified system may become necessary. Perhaps the sale and perceived value of oils will necessarily become dependent on the performance, not the source of the oil. With bulk oils such as palm, peanut, sunflower, safflower, sesame, soya, rapeseed, com, fish, and animal fats and oils, the fatty acid composition will obviously be important for health reasons. If the oil is to be used for frying then the frying properties will be important. In the case of palm products the physical properties and minor components such as carotenoids will be defined. Similarly animal fats will be judged mainly on physical behaviour and effect on the product in which they are used. In all cases the oxidative and stability of the oil will have to be defined. Sesame is a very stable oil, and thus its stability, together with its low level of linolenic acid, would be its major attribute, except for toasted sesame, which would probably be classed as a specialist oil. Already most baking fats sold to the public are blends developed to give the best performance, with no mention on the pack as to the source. If a bulk oil of this type had the desired chemical composition, stability and cooking behaviour, then perhaps the source would not be a matter of concern. 

Flor et al. (1993) were the first to develop criteria for the authentication of olive oil based on vegetable oil HPLC data. They observed that corn, cottonseed, soyabean, sunflower and safflower oils, to mention the most important commercial products, have large peaks for LLL, LLO and LLP but generally smaller LOO and LOP peaks (abbreviations P, palmitic O, oleic S, stearic L, linoleic Ln, linolenic Po, palmitoleic). Additional typical peaks were observed LnLL peak (ca. 7%) in soyabean and LnLO peak (ca. 7%) in rapeseed oils, respectively. Other relevant compositional pictures were observed peanut oil displays a relatively small LLL peak (ca. 3.5%) but larger LLO and LLP peaks (ca. 18.2, 5.9%, respectively). 

Although many vegetable oils are quite similar in sterol composition, there are some important differences. Detection of brassicasterol can be used to detect adulteration of many oils by rapeseed oil as this sterol is only present in most oils in small amounts but rapeseed oil contains up to 780 mg/kg brassicasterol (see Table 6.1). The detection of adulteration of vegetable oils with animal fats can be achieved by analysis of the cholesterol content, since this sterol is either absent or present at very low concentrations in vegetable oils. 

However, the introduction of canola left unmet needs for erucic acid in industrial markets. High-erucic acid rapeseed then was imported from Northern Europe for extraction, followed by efforts to increase erucic acid contents in domestic industrial rapeseed as well as development of crambe (Crambe abyssinica) specifically for its erucic acid content. At the current state of development, equipment corrosion and poisoning of hydro-... 

It transpired that the toxic oil was rapeseed oil that had been adulterated by the addition of 2 per cent of a chemical called aniline, as required by law in Spain for imported rapeseed oil so that it cannot be used for cooking. This oil had been refined and was sold for human consumption, as had been done before without adverse effects. It would appear that a batch of oil may have been refined differently or somehow became contaminated. The toxic oil was found to come from only one source within a particular refinery. The Spanish government agreed to replace the suspect oil with pure olive oil, after which the number of new cases subsided. Collection of contaminated oils known to be associated with the syndrome for analysis was a difficult task due to the government exchange programme. The results showed that the oil associated with the syndrome had a similar composition to rapeseed oil and contained contaminants as a result of the added aniline and the subsequent refining process. 

It is also possible to distinguish between oils from seeds, such as soybean and rapeseed, and those coming from the fleshy part of a fruit such as pahn and olive. An important point here is that for oilseeds, exports and imports are as seeds as well... 

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. 

Palm oil exporters had hoped that China would replace lagging Indian sales by raising its import quota. China officially entered the WTO on December 11, 2001. China s accession agreement stipulated that its 2002 tariff-rate quota (TRQ) on soybean oil increase to 2.518 million tons and the within-quota tariff fall from 13 percent to 9 percent. Tariffs on soybeans and soybean meal were bound at their previous rates. But ample domestic production of soybean and rapeseed oils continued to limit China s need for vegetable oil imports. 

A tightening of China s soybean and rapeseed supplies by mid-2002 created opportunities for vegetable oil imports. Palm oil was the most favorably priced and imports were unfettered by the country s requirements for safety certificates, inspections, and labeling of biotech oilseeds. Therefore, China s importers tried to fill their increased 2002 palm oil TRQ (2.4 million tons) first. Palm oil imports by China rose to 2.0 million tons from 1.6 million in 2000/01. For soybean oil, rising world prices narrowed the differential to China s domestic prices, which limited its import needs. China s soybean oil imports were 375,000 tons in 2001/02, still well below the TRQ but substantially above the 80,000 tons imported the previous year (2). 

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