Rapeseed is an important food crop, a fact that was made possible through modern plant breeding. Around 1960, researchers started developing new rapeseed cultivars that enabled the crop’s rapid growth in recent years.
These improved rapeseed cultivars were free of erucic acid and glucosinolates. Erucic acid tastes bitter and had prevented the use of rapeseed oil in food. Gluconsinolates, which were found in rapeseed meal leftover from pressing, are toxic and had prevented the use of the meal in animal feed. These new cultivars are known as "double-zero" rapeseed. In Canada, where "double-zero" rapeseed was developed, the crop was renamed "canola" (Canadian oil) to differentiate it from non-edible rapeseed.
Rapeseed: A source of food and feed
When the first "00" rapeseed cultivars hit the market about twenty years ago, they became a valuable raw material for food and feed.
- Refined rapeseed oil has been used extensively for the production of margarine. With its high content of monounsaturated fatty acids (60-70%), rapeseed oil has also become important as a healthy cooking oil.
- Rapeseed can be used to produce certain emulsifiers, vitamin E, and substances that can help lower cholesterol levels.
- Rapeseed meal leftover from oil pressing is a valuable, protein-rich animal feed that is often used for raising swine.
Although many field trials with genetically modified rapeseed have been conducted in Europe, it is not yet being grown commercially. Several lines of GM rapeseed have been approved for production and use as food and feed.
GM rapeseed has been grown in Canada since 1996. In 2007, GM rapeseed was grown on 5.1 million hectares, which made up approximately 87 percent of Canada's rapeseed crop. GM rapeseed is grown to a lesser degree in the US and in certain states in Australia.
All of the GM rapeseed grown throughout the world is herbicide resistant, which enables a more efficient and effective approach to weed control.
Shifting the spectrum of fatty acids: Oils by design
Genetically modified rapeseed cultivars could soon be available that have changes in the composition of their oil. The types of fatty acids found in an oil are what determine its physical and nutritional properties.
- Genetically modified rapeseed could be developed with a higher content of long-chain fatty acids. Fatty acids with longer side chains remain solid at higher temperatures. This means that margarine could be produced with fewer processing steps.
- Certain applications require a higher composition of mid-chain fatty acids. For several years, a GM rapeseed cultivar was grown in the United States that contained a gene needed for the production of lauric acid. This mid-chain fatty acid, usually produced from coconut milk, is used as a raw material for the production of detergent additives. GM rapeseed enriched with lauric acid can also be used for producing fat-based coatings in food processing. Apparently, this GM rapeseed cultivar did not meet its expectations. It is no longer being grown.
Some projects are working on enriching rapeseed with other substances. GM rapeseed lines with increased vitamin A content are currently in development."
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