Sunflower Oil

Conventional sunflower oil is high in linoleic acid, which gives a light, neutral oil but limits resistance to oxidation at frying temperatures. High-oleic types shift the balance toward oleic acid and are markedly more stable, which is why they command a premium in commercial frying and in applications needing a long shelf life. Mid-oleic types sit between the two and were developed as a general-purpose compromise.

Crude sunflower oil carries waxes, phospholipids, free fatty acids, and pigments. Refining removes them in stages, and sunflower oil adds a step other oils often do not need: winterisation, which removes waxes that would otherwise cloud the oil when it cools. A cloudy bottle on a cold shelf is a defect of appearance, and winterisation is the process answer to it.

• Food — bottled cooking oil, commercial frying, dressings, and food manufacture
• Food manufacture — high-oleic types where oxidative stability is required
• Industrial — a minor outlet in oleochemicals and coatings

Free fatty acid content, colour, moisture and impurities, and wax content describe the traded oil. Much of its condition is inherited from the seed: seed that heated in store yields oil with a higher free fatty acid load and a higher refining cost. Bulk movement is by tank and parcel tanker, where previous cargo history and tank cleanliness are conditions of acceptance rather than details.