What is the difference between edible oil and refined oil? Which is better?

Two common terms associated with cooking oil are "edible oil" and "refined oil," but what exactly differentiates the two? The biggest difference between edible oil and refined oil is that refined oil is a kind of edible oil after the refining process. Which is better? In terms of food safety, refined edible oil is better than unrefined edible oil. This article aims to shed light on it.

Edible Oil:

Edible oil is a broad term that encompasses all types of oils suitable for human consumption. It includes various oils extracted from plants or animal sources, such as vegetable oils, seed oils, nut oils, animal fat oil and fish oils, etc.. Edible oils are typically in their naturally extracted form and undergo minimal processing. They are known for their distinct flavors, nutritional benefits, and diverse culinary applications.

Different types of edible oil

Refined Oil:

Refined oil, on the other hand, undergoes an additional refining process to minimize impurities, enhance shelf life, and improve its overall quality. The refining process typically involves several steps, including degumming, deacidification, decolorization and deodorization.

The edible oil refining process

The refining process eliminates impurities, such as free fatty acids, phospholipids, pigments, and odors, resulting in a more stable and neutral-tasting oil. Refined oils have a higher smoke point and longer shelf life compared to their unrefined counterparts. The neutral flavor of refined oils makes them suitable for a wide range of cooking methods, including deep frying and baking.

Which is better?

In terms of cooking methods, edible oil and refined oil are about the same, but in terms of food safety, refined edible oil is better than unrefined edible oil. The reasons are as follows:

Generally, edible oil is processed by pressing and simple filtration. If the raw materials for pressing edible oil are not fully dried, they are likely to become moldy and produce aflatoxin, which may lead to excessive aflatoxin levels. Aflatoxin is a first-level carcinogen. If edible oil containing aflatoxin is consumed for a long time, the risk of cancer will be greatly increased.

In addition, filtration can only filter suspended impurities. Impurities such as water, colloids (phospholipids, proteins, sugars), free fatty acids, pigments, need edible oil refinery plants to be removed. However, these impurities can easily cause rancidity and oxidation of edible oil.

Henan DOING edible oil refinery plants

Henan Glory Company is equipped with intelligent machinery to provide one-stop operations from raw material cleaning, shelling, cooking, pressing, filtering and refining. For different processing capacity requirements, we also have a variety of edible oil refinery plants to choose from, including batch type, semi-continuous type and fully continuous type. If you are interested, please feel free to consult us at any time.