ABSTRACT

The lipid produced, whether by plant or animal, is not necessarily ideal for its ultimate human use, and the natural product may have to be modified. This has been going on for at least a century, and most of the lipid that we use today has been modified in some way. Changes can be made through applications of technology or biology. Much of the current interest in this topic relates to the latter and to the exciting changes occurring there, but it should not be forgotten that some of the biological methods and most of the technological methods have a long history.