The general process used to create industrial seed oils is anything but natural. The oils extracted from soybeans, corn, cottonseed, safflower seeds, and rapeseeds must be refined, bleached, and deodorized before they are suitable for human consumption.
- First, seeds are gathered from the soy, corn, cotton, safflower, and rapeseed plants.
- Next, the seeds are heated to extremely high temperatures; this causes the unsaturated fatty acids in the seeds to oxidize, creating byproducts that are harmful to human and animal health.
- The seeds are then processed with a petroleum-based solvent, such as hexane, to maximize the amount of oil extracted from them.
- Next, industrial seed oil manufacturers use chemicals to deodorize the oils, which have a very off-putting smell once extracted. The deodorization process produces trans fats, which are well known to be quite harmful to human health.
- Finally, more chemicals are added to improve the color of the industrial seed oils.