Hi All. A bit of help please. We are warned against the evils of chemically produced seed oils, such rapeseed oil. Admittedly it is highly chemically produced and I wouldn’t use it
However Waitrose and other stores now sell Extra virgin cold pressed rapeseed oil, which they claim has a better ratio of fats than olive oil. With other health claims as well.
It is excellent for frying as it has a high smoke point.
The one l’m using is ‘hillside’
Is this safe to use?
I would not use it. Does it have a smell to it? That is a sign it has gone through some nasty chemicals to get to that point.
If you need a good oil for higher temp cooking, go with avocado oil or coconut oil. I found I can easily fry foods at 350F so even olive oil can be used up to that point.
This is an interesting question . So far as I know, all the industrial seed oils are highly processed, and rapeseed oil is included in that group. Rapeseed oil is also high in erucic acid, which is why the canola (Canadian oil, low-acid) variety was bred.
Processing aside, there are two reasons for avoiding industrial seed oils. The first is the high content of polyunsaturated fatty acids, almost all of which are new to the human body. They have unpredictable effects on the body, and the effects that are known are not good. The other reason is the high percentage of PUFA’s that are of the ω-6 variety, and these cause systemic inflammation.
You got me curious so I looked up rapeseed/canola oil. Rapeseed has something in it called erucic acid in it which is possibly toxic to humans. Much of the erucic acid is removed during the processing to create the canola oil used in cooking. In the US, culinary rapeseed can have a maximum of 2% erucic acid by weight.
This makes me wonder about the cold pressed, extra virgin version. If it is extra virgin, what is being done about the erucic acid? Are they removing that somehow? I did see something about rapeseed being genetically modified to have lower levels of erucic acid. So maybe that is not even an issue any more? No idea. 
, but it was fun reading up.
I doubt these musings were useful. Sorry. 
I am in the UK too. I use lard, beef dripping, chicken fat, goose fat, duck fat. I do not cook with vegetable oils. I use some olive oil for dressings but cook only in animal fats.
I see one of their selling points is that it’s low in saturated fats, but we now know saturated fats aren’t actually bad, in fact they’re essential…
Thank guys for your replies. The brand I use mechanically press the seeds and bottle the oil. Nothing added or taken out. I hear what your saying though, thanks.
One of the reasons I stopped using seed oils is that they are basically all GMO and sprayed with glyphosate. Unless this oil says it is non-GMO or organic, I do not believe it is safe for this reason. The Canadian version of rapeseed oil is called Canola oil. They have bred most of the erucic acid out of it to the point where it appears to be safe. “A better ratio of fats than olive oil?” No. I don’t think so. However, out of all the seed oils I know of Canola oil has about the least amount of Omega 6, and what it does have is offset by an equivalent amount of Omega 3 ALA oil - so, maybe that is what they mean by having a better ratio. However, between these two, it is probably close to 40% polyunsaturated fats - the rest being mostly monounsaturated fats. This makes the oil far preferable to most seed oils in my opinion - with some such as corn oil being up to 75% Omega 6.
I actually bought some organic cold-pressed canola oil this year for use in baking - which my wife does occasionally. Would I fry with it? No. I would rather use butter or coconut oil. If the temperature is too hot for those, it is going to oxidize whatever you’re frying pretty badly as maximum oxidation of foods takes place starting at 300 F. My main use for it is in recipes where you do not want any taste. In the past I have used grape seed oil, because at least it is not GMO. However, I believe Canola oil to have a better fat profile - again, it is the best I am aware of out of all the seed oils from that angle.