FAT AND OIL OF ANIMAL ORIGIN

Fatty acids from plant oils and fats increasingly substitute those made of mineral oil as raw materials in industrial processes. This leads to the question, whether fat of animal origin is an additional raw material, which could be used in higher quantities for industrial production. Fat of animal origin is used mainly for nutritional purpose. Only about 23% of the slaughter fat and 9% of milk fat - all other animal fats and oils are less important in Germany - are raw materials for industrial products. The variation in the patterns of fatty acids of animal origin is a serious drawback for an increasing industrial use of animal fat because industrial processes need fat with high amounts of one single fatty acid. Therefore an increase of the fat production will not cause a higher industrial use of those fats. The production of animals for an increasing production of fat is uneconomical and may cause ethic and health problems. An adaption of the fatty acid pattern of animal fat to the industrial needs by breeding or feeding is possible only to a small extent while in the plant area this is already widely practiced.