Expression

Virgin, unrefined, raw, natural, extra-virgin, first press and so on …
What do these descriptions mean? Which of these guarantee high-quality vegetable oils?

Hot pressed oil

From a purely commercial point of view and in terms of yield, vegetable oils can be mechanically hot pressed at temperatures from 80° to 120°C. To this end, raw plant material undergoes a series of highly invasive chemical processes (refining, de-gumming, deodorisation, decolouration etc.) which removes a significant proportion of vitamins, essential fatty acids and oxidants from the finished product.
The extracts obtained are highly standardised and have good storage properties, but have lost all their nutritional and cosmetic properties.
Despite being completely denatured, some of these are still referred to by names such as "unrefined oil"; "raw oil" or "natural oil"..

Cold pressing

Cold pressing, on the other hand, is an entirely mechanical process which is carried exclusively at low temperatures, thus retaining the full complement of essential fatty acids, vitamin E and natural antioxidants, and requiring no additives.
The initial extraction, known as the “first press”, gives a pure virtual “fruit juice” of oils.

Virgin and extra-virgin oil

The adjective “virgin” can only be used for a vegetable oil if it meets several specific regulatory criteria;
- cold first press
- clarification by physical or mechanical methods
- no physical or chemical refining
“Virgin” oil may have acidity levels of up to 3%, as opposed to “extra-virgin” which contains less than 1% of acidity. The adjective “extra virgin” can only be applied to olive oil.

Organic Oil

As for “certified organic” or “100% organic” labelling, vegetable oils that merit this designation must be derived from agricultural sources that are free of chemically synthesised products and must be grown in areas that are sheltered from external contamination.
Produced only using cold mechanical pressing, certified organic vegetable oils have labelling which ensures full product traceability from the field to the table.
”Organic” certification is issued by authorised bodies (Ecocert, NOP) that check that the regulations in force are being observed.