USA – Cargill has teamed up with Precision BioSciences in a partnership that will create low saturate, high oleic canola oil with an aim to deliver the lowest saturated levels in the market.

The collaboration involves use of Precision’s ARCUS genome-editing technology to further reduce saturated fat in canola oil.

ARCUS editing platform helps to eliminate cancers, cure genetic diseases, and create safer, more productive food sources and Cargill is on the verge of providing consumers with innovative but safe products.

The canola oil targets quick service restaurants and food ingredient industries which use the product in fried foods, allowing them to include nutrient content claims on saturated fat levels such as “Low in Saturated Fat” or “No Saturated Fat”.

High oleic canola oil, high in oleic acid and low in linoleic acid was specifically bred for repeated deep frying, making the oil less susceptible to deterioration during deep frying.

Following USDA and Health and Human Services’ call on Americans to limit saturated fat intake to 10 percent of their daily calories, Cargill is committed to contributing greatly in ensuring healthier lifestyles and wellbeing.

Food makers, companies and restaurants are changing to high oleic canola oil, regarded to be nutritionally superior to traditional oils such as palm oil and tallow used in deep frying.

Using starches, vegetable waxes and emulsions, Cargill scientists developed fat systems that lower saturated fat by as much as 40% in shortenings without compromising on its quality attributes for bakeries.

Need for an alternative healthier diet by North Americans prompted Cargill to focus on innovative initiatives that created the new generation high oleic canola oil with high stability, maintaining preferred flavors in storage, extend shelf life, reduce packaging, and enable new applications.

Cargill’s Specialty Seeds and Oils Innovation Center, located in Colorado will help drive this vision by fostering research and development of next-generation Clear Valley canola oils.

Cargill fortified its canola with omega-3 fatty acids to address the high demand that pressurized wild fish populations harvested to produce fish meal and fish oil for aqua-feed.

Cargill invested in its Victory canola hybrids to produce new canola oil called Clear Valley, then said to be the lowest in saturated fat.

“The partnership demonstrates our ongoing commitment to developing nutritious products for consumers, with the superior performance and sensory attributes that our customers have come to expect from Cargill’s edible oils portfolio,” said Lorin Debonte, Cargill research and development.

He added that the innovation was vital in looking for better ways to build upon capabilities and their innovation strategy they had already outlined.

Cargill has filed patent applications covering initial discoveries with this highly effective, breakthrough technology.

Cargill and Precision BioSciences agreed to work together to further develop the product with Cargill given the mandate to determine a plan for commercialization.