Vegetable Oils

Vegetable oils are lipid ingredients extracted from plant seeds, fruits, and nuts, representing one of the most widely used ingredient categories in food manufacturing. Common vegetable oils include soybean oil, canola oil, palm oil, sunflower oil, corn oil, safflower oil, and olive oil. These oils vary significantly in their fatty acid profiles, extraction methods, and degree of processing, ranging from cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil to highly refined, bleached, and deodorized (RBD) industrial oils.

Vegetable oils are found in fried foods, baked goods, salad dressings, mayonnaise, margarine, snack chips, crackers, cookies, frozen meals, sauces, non-dairy creamers, infant formula, and virtually every category of commercially prepared food.

Level (high → low)Level (low → high)Name (A–Z)Name (Z–A)

AllL1L2L3L4

Shoprite, Scrunchy, Toasted Oats Sweetened Oat Cereal, Apple Cinnamon

8.15.5/10

Apple Cinnamon Sweetened Toasted Oat Cereal

8.10.0/10

The Original Caesar Dressing

8.10.5/10

Chocolate Hazelnut

8.10.0/10

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Glutino, Gluten Free Crackers, Cheddar

8.13.5/10

Family Recipe Italian Dressing

8.12.0/10

Margarita & Lime White Corn Tortilla Chips

8.10.0/10

Italian Reduced Fat Dressing

8.12.0/10

Granola Bark

8.13.5/10

House Italian Made with Peramesan Cheese

8.11.5/10

Peanut Butter Ice Cream with Peanut Butter Cups, Peanut Butter Cup

8.10.0/10

Crackers, Real Cheddar Cheese

8.13.5/10

Crackers, Cheddar Cheese

8.12.0/10

Apple Cinnamon Sweetened Toasted Oat Cereal, Apple Cinnamon

8.15.5/10

Jalapeno Pretzel Pieces Flavoured Sourdough Hard Pretzel, Jalapeno

8.10.0/10

Stonehedge Farms, Old Fashioned Caramel Popcorn

5.30.0/10

Pizza Quick Snack Sauce

5.30.0/10

Kroger, Original Coffee Creamer

5.34.0/10

Cream Soup Powder

5.30.5/10

Great Value, Cashews, Honey Roasted

5.36.0/10

Food Lion, Coffee Creamer, Original

5.35.0/10

Hannaford, Coffee Creamer

5.30.0/10

Mammoth Pecans

5.34.0/10

Calypso, Lemonade

5.34.0/10

Butter Caramels

5.30.0/10

Caramel Coated Popcorn & Peanuts

5.35.0/10

Planters, Dry Roasted Peanuts, Honey

5.36.0/10

Buffalo Sandwich Sauce

5.33.0/10

Dutch Licorice Coins

5.30.0/10

Honey Roasted Cashews

5.34.5/10

Orville Redenbachers Simply Salted Popcorn

3.00.0/10

Orville Redenbachers Salted Popcorn, 8.07 Oz

3.00.0/10

Orville Redenbachers Simply Salted Popcorn, 19.74 Oz

3.00.0/10

Peter Pan Natural Creamy Peanut Butter, 16.3 Oz

3.00.0/10

Optima Deep Frying Olive Oil

2.83.0/10

Chopped Seasoned Potato Puffs

2.86.0/10

Beer Nuts, Original Peanuts Snacks

2.80.0/10

Original Peanuts, Sweet and Salty

2.80.0/10

Original Peanuts

2.80.0/10

Sesame Sticks & Cashews Trail Mix, Cashew & Sesame

2.87.5/10

Original Peanuts Snacks, Original

Beer Nuts

2.87.0/10

Cashews Snacks

Beer Nuts

2.86.5/10

Cashews

Beer Nuts

2.86.5/10

Kettle Chips, Red Wine Vinegar & Sea Salt

Hen of the Woods

2.85.5/10

Extra Virgin Olive Oil Cold Extraction

Vilanova

2.80.0/10

Wesson Pure Canola Oil, 24 Oz, 24 Fl Oz

1.00.0/10

Whole Fancy Unsalted Cashews

1.07.5/10

Spectrum, Organic Sunflower Oil

1.00.0/10

100% Pure Vegetable Soybean Oil

1.03.0/10

Shoprite, Canola Oil

1.00.0/10

Goya, Corn Oil

1.00.0/10

La Tourangelle, Toasted Sesame Oil

1.03.0/10

Walnut Oil

1.03.0/10

Carrington Farms, Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil

1.00.0/10

Organic Virgin Unrefined Coconut Oil

1.00.0/10

High Heat Safflower Oil

1.03.0/10

Peanut Oil

1.03.0/10

Virgin & Unrefined Coconut Oil

1.03.0/10

Organic Safflower Oil

1.00.0/10

Spectrum, Organic Unrefined Medium Heat Virgin Coconut Oil

1.00.0/10

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Vegetable Oils can appear in ingredient lists under several names. If you see any of the following, this is the ingredient family you are looking at:

Vegetable oils serve as cooking and frying media, provide moisture and tenderness in baked goods, act as carriers for fat-soluble flavors and colors, create smooth textures in dressings and sauces, and extend shelf life by replacing more perishable animal fats. In industrial food manufacturing, oils are selected for specific functional properties including smoke point, oxidative stability, flavor neutrality, and melting behavior. Refined oils provide a neutral flavor base, while unrefined oils like extra virgin olive oil contribute distinctive taste profiles.

Vegetable oils are extracted from plant sources through mechanical pressing, solvent extraction (typically using hexane), or a combination of both methods. Cold-pressed and expeller-pressed oils use only mechanical force without chemical solvents. Most commodity oils (soybean, canola, corn) undergo a refining process that includes degumming, neutralization, bleaching, and deodorization (RBD processing) to remove impurities, free fatty acids, colors, and volatile compounds. This refining produces a neutral-flavored, shelf-stable oil suitable for industrial use.

Vegetable oils differ in fatty acid composition. Olive, canola and sunflower oil sit at one end of that range and coconut and palm oil at the other. Trans fat content must be declared on the Nutrition Facts label, and the FDA has determined that partially hydrogenated oils (the primary source of artificial trans fats) are no longer GRAS. Palm oil and coconut oil have higher saturated fat content compared to other vegetable oils. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans provide recommendations regarding dietary fat types and amounts.

This information is for educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice.

Vegetable oils are classified as GRAS by the FDA. Fat content, saturated fat, and trans fat must be declared on the Nutrition Facts label. Standards of identity exist for specific oils (olive oil grades are defined by the International Olive Council and adopted by the USDA). Claims like "cold-pressed" and "expeller-pressed" have specific definitions. The EU regulates olive oil grading, permitted extraction methods, and labeling of oil blends.