Cargill’s Victory canola hybrids are going into a new canola oil that the company bills as the lowest in saturated fat of any vegetable oil offered to food makers to date.

The Minneapolis-based agrifood firm said Monday it will have its new oil, called Clear Valley, available for customer testing early next year.

Cargill’s specialty canola oil division offers three Victory hybrids in Western Canada: v1030, v1031 and v1035. All three are Roundup ready varieties intended for mid- to long-season growing zones.

Cargill described the new oil as a “high stability” product with four to 4.5 per cent saturated fat, a level 25 per cent below that of conventional canola oil. The company’s Victory and InVigor canola lines are grown under a specialty contract program with Cargill.

The company’s Victory hybrids are developed at research and plant breeding locations at Camrose, Alta., Aberdeen, Sask. and Elm Creek, Man.

Nutrient claims

The new oil “may allow food manufacturers to differentiate their brand with nutrient content claims such as ‘low in saturated fat,’ ‘reduced saturated fat’ or ‘saturated fat-free,'” the company said in a release.

“Primary market research demonstrates that market share gains are possible if companies promote reduced saturated fat as a front-of-box claim.”

Part of Cargill’s high-oleic product platform, Clear Valley “is expected to deliver similar functionality, mouth feel and fry and shelf life stability as its current high oleic canola oils,” the company said.

Furthermore, such a product may allow food manufacturers “to reach the voluntary nutritional guidelines set by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) when marketing to children,” said Dr. Peter Bordi, an associate professor of hospitality management at Pennsylvania State University and a director of PSU’s Center for Food Innovation, in Cargill’s release.