What's The Difference Between Non-GMO and Expeller Pressed?

Posted by Hannah Broaddus

Canola and Safflower Oil are often sold as Non-GMO, Expeller Pressed Oils. These are two different traits that are used to describe the oils, but you’ll often find them together. Why is that? Let’s first review what they mean, and then we’ll go into why.

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Non-GMO refers to the fact that the seeds that become the oil are not genetically modified in the growing process. The term GMO stands for Genetically Modified Organism. When a crop is genetically modified, this means it’s genetic make up has been changed to help it be more resistant the herbicide Roundup and therefore grow more successfully. This is a practice that has become the norm in the US and Canadian farming communities. A non-GMO oil is made from seeds that do not use this practice.

Expeller Pressed Oils

Expeller-pressed is a term that describes the process of how oil is removed from the seeds. Expeller-pressed means that the oil is mechanically pressed out of the seeds, rather than expelled using a “helper solvent” like hexane. This process returns less yields than the solvent-expelled process, but does not use chemicals.

Why Do These Traits Often Come Together?

Non-GMO and Expeller Pressed are two separate characteristics describing how the oil was made. In specialty grocery stores, however, most customers want both of these natural traits. The theory is, if you’re willing to pay a more for one, you might as well pay a little bit more for both, because they’re both important to the natural foods consumer.

In the growth of the whole foods movement, expeller pressed oils gained popularity first. Soon after, Non-GMO oils gained popularity. You can actually still get an expeller pressed canola oil that has been grown with the use of GMOs. But Non-GMO oils are in high demand right now and are usually reserved for the expeller pressing method, because the customers demanding Non-GMO are also demanding for their oils to be produced without chemical solvents.

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Topics: Comparing Oils, Canola Oil, Non-GMO

 

 

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