ABSTRACT
Vegetal oils and animal fats are products coming from agriculture and livestock, and they have been used as food since prehistoric times until modern times when they also became an industrial raw material as well as an energy source. These lipid sources are spread in all countries, each one being integrated within a historical scope linked to geography, sociology, culture, and political economy. Whereas the production of some oils originate from oleaginous plants, especially cultivated for that purpose (oil palm, coconut tree, and rapeseed), other oils are generally only products deriving from textile industry (cottonseed oil) or animal feeds (soybean oil).
