Healthy Oils and Fats are Welcomed by Food Manufacturers and Consumers

Oils and fats are now getting their time to shine. While they were avoided by consumers before, manufactures are now incorporating healthy oils in their products to appeal to health-focused consumers. Oils that caught the eye of manufacturers include: safflower, sunflower, peanut oil and the heat-stable olive pomace oil. Prepared Foods reported that this trend began with the Mediterranean Diet which was stalled in the 1980s due to narrower versatility oils. This is no longer a problem.

Palm oil, which is one of the most versatile oils that can be used in high temperature processing, is now being obtained differently. Manufacturers have committed to taking action for the environment’s sake by ensuring it is produced organically. This could put palm oil back in the rankings with the trending oils right now, which are almond, avocado and coconut oils.

Aside from palm oil, there are now other healthy oils that can be used in high temperature processing. Non-GMO soy, canola and corn oil are the heat-stable game changers. They benefiting manufacturers more than ever since these healthy oils can now be used in more than just cold products.

Nestlé is a manufacturer that caught onto the healthy ingredient change. The company started developing an all-in-one creamer including a mix of MCT oil, grass-fed butter and added collagen protein. BBC Future also realized the benefits of using healthy fats in its foods, highlighting pig’s fat in one of its articles on the top 100 nutritional foods.

Food manufacturers aren’t the only ones taking advantage of the health trend. Oil manufacturer Cargill released a new canola oil which they claim has 4.5 percent or less saturated fat. This allows manufacturers to reduce the saturated fat content in their products by 35 percent.

This recent rise in oil and fat trends could be a result of the keto diet which made a comeback in 2017. The ketogenic diet is a high fat and low carb diet that is said to help the body gain energy from ketones rather than fat. Whether or not it stuck with consumers, it was an eyeopener to the fact fats don’t always have to be a bad thing.

Has this trend benefited the sales of oil? Some oils have benefited, while others have suffered. Coconut oil in particular has suffered as sales fell 26 percent last year, now that there are more healthy options available. Canola oil was one of the oils that benefited – consumption being 2,743 thousand metric tons in 2017.  Consumption  has gone up in the past year for more than just canola oil; peanut oil went from 5.77 to 5.99, sunflower seed oil went from 16.52 to 16.79, and palm oil takes the win by rising from 59.97 to 62.92 thousand metric tons consumed.

Oils have definitely made their way into the radar of consumers. Nestlé and Cargill have used this to their advantage. This trend helps both companies and consumers by increasing sales and creating a healthier food market.