Sources of Fats and Oils

Worldwide, more than 70% of the edible oils and fats are obtained from plant sources (Salunkhe, et al., 1992). The world production of major oilseeds from 1980 to 1995 are shown in Table 12.1. The annual total oilseed produc­ tion and each of the top five major oilseeds increased steadily throughout this period, and soybean amounted to more than half of the world oilseed output.