{{Infobox food | image = Corn oil (mais).jpg | cookbook = Corn Oil }}{{short description|Oil from the seeds of corn}} thumb|right|Plastic jugs in cardboard boxes, 15 kg each
'''Corn oil''' (North American) or '''maize oil''' (British) is oil extracted from the germ of corn (maize). Its main use is in cooking, where its high smoke point makes refined corn oil a valuable frying oil. It is also a key ingredient in some margarines. Corn oil is generally less expensive than most other types of vegetable oils.
Corn oil is also a feedstock used for biodiesel. Other industrial uses for corn oil include soap, salve, paint, erasers, rustproofing for metal surfaces, inks, textiles, nitroglycerin, and insecticides. It is sometimes used as a carrier for drug molecules in pharmaceutical preparations. Due to its low cost, corn oil is also one of the most popular choices for use in egg addling, an avian population control method in which a bird's egg is coated with oil to prevent the embryo from receiving oxygen.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Use of Egg Addling in Wildlife Damage Management |url=https://www.aphis.usda.gov/sites/default/files/16-egg-addling.pdf |website=United States Department of Agriculture}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=McGlashen |first=Andy |date=6 February 2020 |title=Without Solid Science, Government Plans to Expand Cormorant Killing Methods |url=https://www.audubon.org/news/without-solid-science-government-plans-expand-cormorant-killing-efforts |website=Audubon}}</ref>
==Production==
Almost all corn oil is expeller-pressed, then solvent-extracted using hexane or 2-methylpentane (isohexane).<ref name="corn dot org">Corn Refiners Association. [http://www.corn.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/CornOil.pdf Corn Oil] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412091052/https://corn.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/CornOil.pdf |date=2019-04-12 }} 5th Edition. 2006</ref> The solvent is evaporated from the corn oil, recovered, and re-used. After extraction, the corn oil is then refined by degumming and/or alkali treatment, both of which remove phosphatides. Alkali treatment also neutralizes free fatty acids and removes color (bleaching). Final steps in refining include winterization (the removal of waxes), and deodorization by steam distillation of the oil at {{convert|232|-|260|°C|°F|abbr=on|lk=on}} under a high vacuum.<ref name="corn dot org"/>
{| class="wikitable gauche" style="margin-right:2em;" cellpadding="5" ! !Country !! Production, 2018<br /><small>(tonnes)</small> |- |1 | {{USA}}||align="right"| 1,707,600 |- |2 | {{CHN}}||align="right"| 483,700 |- |3 | {{BRA}}||align="right"| 145,548 |- |4 | {{RSA}}||align="right"| 83,700 |- |5 | {{JPN}}||align="right"| 82,503 |- |6 | {{ITA}}||align="right"| 69,300 |- |7 | {{FRA}}||align="right"| 67,900 |- |8 | {{BEL}}||align="right"| 64,700 |- |9 | {{CAN}}||align="right"| 62,300 |- |10 | {{TUR}}||align="right"| 53,000 |- | colspan="5" |''Source : FAOSTAT<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/QD/ | title=Faostat }}</ref>'' |}
==Constituents and comparison== {{Vegetable oils, composition}} * Of the saturated fatty acids, 80% are palmitic acid (lipid number of C16:0), 14% stearic acid (C18:0), and 3% arachidic acid (C20:0). * Over 99% of the monounsaturated fatty acids are oleic acid (C18:1 ''cis''-9) * 98% of the polyunsaturated fatty acids are the omega-6 linoleic acid (C18:2 n-6).<ref name="daley2004">{{cite web |last = Daley |first = C.A. |author2 = Abbott, A. |author3 = Doyle, P. |author4 = Nader, G. |author5 = Larson, S. |title = A literature review of the value-added nutrients found in grass-fed beef products |publisher = California State University, Chico (College of Agriculture) |year = 2004 |url = http://www.csuchico.edu/agr/grassfedbeef/health-benefits/index.html |access-date = 2008-03-23 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080706021024/http://www.csuchico.edu/agr/grassfedbeef/health-benefits/index.html |archive-date = 2008-07-06 |url-status = dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author1=Yong Q. Chen |author2=at al |title=Modulation of prostate cancer genetic risk by omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids |journal=The Journal of Clinical Investigation |volume=117 |issue=7 |year=2007 |pmid=17607361 |doi=10.1172/JCI31494 |pmc=1890998|pages= 1866–1875}}</ref>
==See also== * Corn wet-milling
==References== {{Reflist|3}}
==Further reading== * {{cite journal|author1=Dupont J |author2=PJ White |author3=MP Carpenter |author4=EJ Schaefer |author5=SN Meydani |author6=CE Elson |author7=M Woods |author8=SL Gorbach |author-link8=Sherwood Gorbach |title=Food uses and health effects of corn oil|journal=J Am Coll Nutr|date=October 1990|volume=9|issue=5|pages=438–470|pmid=2258533|doi=10.1080/07315724.1990.10720403 }}
==External links== * [http://www.iseo.org/ Institute of Shortening and Edible Oils] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20050713074507/http://maize.agron.iastate.edu/ The Maize Page] (archived 13 July 2005)
{{fatsandoils}} {{corn}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Corn Oil}} Category:Cooking oils Category:Vegetable oils Category:Maize products