What exactly is vegetable oil when it is listed as an ingredient in processed foods?
Vegetable oil is often referred to as ‘vegetable fat.’ Also, it can derive from a wide variety of plants and trees, as there are only three forms of naturally occurring matter: animal, VEGETABLE and mineral, so anything not animal or mineral IS vegetable! That includes Deadly Nightshade, Oleander, Rape Weed (‘Canola’), Cottonseed (usually containing carcinogenic pesticides in the oil extracted from it) and many other inedible or downright poisonous plants. Not all vegetable sources are healthy for oil production. However, some governments, farmers and processors have turned a blind eye to this established fact, for the sake of sheer monetary gain, and put the onus on the consumer to decide. Hydrogenation As some oils have a very short shelf life, to make them more saleable, processors often partially ‘Hydrogenate’ them to extend their shelf life, and/or to thicken them. This process creates multiple carcinogenic compounds within the oil, which must take their toll on consumers’ health
