Canada’s Oilseed Aims for U.S. Market Niche : It’s Said to Be One of Lowest in Fat

Canola, the Canadian oilseed that claims to be low in saturated fat, is making inroads in the salad oil market south of the border and even enticing some American farmers to plant the tiny, black oilseed.

It is no coincidence that the Canola Council of Canada held its annual meeting this year in Chicago because Canadians believe that the United States holds the best potential for reviving the lagging industry.

The main wedge that the canola industry plans to use to break into the U.S. market is health, which they hope will make canola oil a premium-priced product consumers ask for by name.

“It’s just a good oil that’s good for you,” said Robert Broeska, executive director of Canola Crushers of Western Canada.

The Canola Council sees some encouraging signs ahead. Canola oil ranks lowest in saturated fat at 6%, compared to 15% for soybean oil, 51% for palm oil and 92% for coconut oil, according to figures from the Department of Agriculture.

Although food scientists differ about the exact health value of the oilseed, the canola industry wants to press home a simple message that consumers who want to limit their intake of saturated fats should look to canola oil.

Procter & Gamble has already jumped on the bandwagon, publicizing the switch to canola oil in its Puritan Oil brand from other vegetable oils and stressing the health benefits of the “lighter and clearer” oil.

The American Health Foundation presented Puritan Oil with its Health Product of the Year award in 1988, followed by the Product Acceptance award from the American College of Nutrition earlier this year.

The increase in American demand for canola oil has been gradual but large enough to prompt two major oilseed processors to convert existing plants to process canola.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Inc. stands ready to use a former sunflower seed processing plant in Velva, N.D., to receive the fall canola harvest, ADM researcher Parry Dixon said.

“However, I don’t see the Dakota crop reaching the 100,000 acres I projected earlier this year when I spoke at the Canola Council convention because wheat prices are too high to prompt farmers to experiment” with a new crop, Dixon added.

Northern farmers do not want a repeat of the boom and bust in sunflower seeds of the late 1970s and early 1980s and are expected to proceed cautiously with canola.

“To be profitable, initially we’ll probably have to draw canola down from Canada to supplement local production,” Dixon said.

However, he still believes that interest in canola will continue to grow.

“Domestic consumption of canola oil has grown from 13,000 metric tons in 1984-85 to approximately 200,000 tons for the current crop year,” Dixon said.

The Central Soya division of Ferruzzi SpA has also converted a soybean-processing plant in Chattanooga, Tenn., to handle the growing canola production in the South.

Canadian Vegetable Oilseed Processing general manager Robert Jiggins said the Chattanooga plant will supply some of the canola oil Procter & Gamble needs for Puritan oil. But he said the main source “will probably continue to be our Windsor, Ontario, plant.”