Cargill says US can’t replace vegetable oils due to lack of alternatives

Cargill Inc. says the U.S. food industry can’t completely replace vegetable oils because there aren’t enough alternatives on the market and science supports the health benefits of oilseeds, said Florian Schattenmann, Cargill’s chief technology officer.

A full-scale campaign to promote animal fats as a replacement for vegetable oils is underway in the United States. Calls to limit the use and purchase of oils are creating a lot of uncertainty for farmers who are already struggling with tariff wars that have roiled markets, Bloomberg reports.

The best alternatives together account for about 5% of the total oil volume, Schattenmann said. The U.S. processes 1.2 billion pounds of soybean oil for food use each month, compared with 75.6 million pounds of edible fat, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“We don’t see that sentiment in Europe, for example, which is as health-conscious as the U.S. in many ways. When something is limited to a certain country, it makes you wonder, is it science or is it more emotion?” asks a representative of one of the world’s largest oilseed processors.

Vegetable oils make up the majority of the world’s edible oil supply, which also includes palm, coconut, sunflower, olive, mustard, flax and avocado oils. “None of these sources, with the exception of palm oil, have the size and scale to meet current global consumer demand,” Cargill said in a statement, adding that vegetable edible oils are 20 times more widely produced than alternatives.

Tags: Cargill, USA, edible oils