What is rapeseed oil?
Rapeseed oil is extracted from the seeds of the plant of the same name (botanical name Brassica napus oleifera), which contain it in concentrations ranging from 35 to 50%.
Rapeseed oil is a widely used product with good commercial value; however, it has been the subject of much controversy in the food sector due to the concentration of erucic acid.
Rapeseed oil and erucic acid
For its content in erucic acid, a cardiotoxic lipid which in the 1970s aroused great health concerns, rapeseed was the subject of an "intense work of crop selection. The researchers were thus able to obtain a variety of rapeseed low in saturated fatty acids and erucic acid, called Canadian Brassica or more simply Canola.
