Michael Eskin, a member of the Order of Canada, has received another honour from the Manitoba Canola Growers Association.
On Feb. 15, the MCGA recognized Eskin with the 2023 Canola Award of Excellence Award for his lifetime of research into canola oil.
“From his early involvement in the development of canola oil, to his efforts in solving problems associated with the oil over the years, to his current work with colleagues looking at some of the antioxidant and anticancer properties of the phenolics in canola; Dr. Eskin has a long list of accomplishments and MCGA is thrilled to recognize him with this award,” said Chuck Fossay, MCGA president.
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Eskin, a Food and Human Nutritional Sciences professor, started studying canola oil in 1968, when Baldur Stefansson was trying to turn rapeseed into canola.
“My role was to look at the composition, stability and performance of the oil that would become canola,” Eskin said. “We were commissioned by the Canola Council of Canada to prepare the first major booklet on canola oil to promote its science and technology to health professionals and food industry people around the world.”
Eskin, 82, continues to teach, publish and supervise students at the U of M.
In 2016, governor general David Johnston appointed Eskin to the Order of Canada for his pioneering work on canola oil.
“Michael Eskin has made important contributions to Canada’s canola industry,” Johnston said at the time “His identification of the chemical, physical and performance properties of canola oil helped lay the foundation for its development as a marketable product.”
For his work on canola and edible oils, Eskin also received the 2020 Supelco AOCS research award, “the world prize in lipids”, the MCGA said in a news release.
“In 2022, he was the recipient of the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award… by the Institute of Food Technologists in the USA,” the MCGA added.
Back in 1968, when Eskin started at the U of M, canola oil didn’t really exist and wasn’t commonly used as a cooking oil.
In 2022, Canada exported 2.6 million tonnes of canola oil, valued at $6.2 billion.
Domestically, canola oil has become the No. 1 edible oil in Canada, representing more than half of all vegetable oil consumed in the country.
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