Canola is the most-switched-to cooking oil in the United States restaurant industry, according to a new survey.
The February 2008 poll of 400 restaurants that are high volume users of cooking oil found that 28 percent of them changed their oil in the past two years.
Canola oil saw the biggest net gain in cooking oil conversions over that time, followed by soybean oil and oil blends, according to the Technomic survey funded by the governments of Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario and Canada.
Robert Hunter, vice-president of communications at the Canola Council of Canada, attributed the popularity of canola to its low content of trans fats and saturated fat. The oil has also benefited from its high heat tolerance, neutral flavour, light texture and an aggressive publicity campaign south of the border.
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“To see the data like this only further emphasizes that this promotion and the efforts of the entire industry to raise the profile of canola oil in the U.S. has been successful,” he said.
The good news keeps rolling in. Canola was once again the top crop in terms of generating farm cash receipts in 2007, according to Statistics Canada.
“It’s just proof that the product is being valued for its attributes. Farmers are directly seeing the reward for that increased demand and increased value for the product,” said Hunter.
He wasn’t surprised that only 28 percent of the restaurants polled switched their oils despite all of the health warnings about the trans-fat laden oils used in many establishments. That’s because there is no mandatory legislation banning trans fats in the U.S. market.
“All of this shift to healthier oil profiles is entirely voluntary.”
Most of the change is occurring at large chains like McDonald’s and Kentucky Fried Chicken that are forced to divulge the ingredients they use on their menus or websites.
The Technomic survey revealed a further 12 percent of the restaurants that didn’t make a change are considering doing so in the near future.
Bob Broeska, president of the Canadian Oilseed Processors Association, wonders how the industry is going to meet all the new sources of demand for the crop.
“You wonder if there is going to be an ability of the industry to supply both offshore demand, continental food demand as well as the rising need for biofuels.”
Hunter said the Canadian industry has set a goal of boosting planting to 17 million acres by 2015, up from 13 million acres in 2006 and production to 15 million tonnes from 9.1 million tonnes over that same time.
That’s an ambitious 30 percent jump in acres and a 65 percent increase in production over nine years. If this year is any indication, those could be difficult objectives to achieve.
Agriculture Canada is predicting a modest 0.5 percent rise in acres and nine percent increase in production in the 2008-09 crop year despite canola prices being at an all-time high.
“I don’t think it’s a setback,” said Hunter.
He said the goals are long-term objectives and there may be considerable fluctuation from year to year. He said the expected productivity gains won’t come solely from boosting acreage. The industry is also expecting better yields, heightened oil content and shortened rotations.
