Seed oils in Mexico

What the chains fry in

These are the 28 chains we track in Mexico, with what each one fries in according to our records. Open any chain for its full report card. See the full country index.

• Real fats: beef tallow, lard, butter, olive oil or coconut oil.
• In between: palm or peanut oil, a high-oleic grade, or a mix of real fat and seed oil.
• Seed oils: canola (rapeseed), soybean, sunflower or corn, or a "vegetable oil" blend.
• No fryer: the chain does not deep fry. It can still cook with oil elsewhere in the kitchen.
• Unknown: our records do not say what the chain fries in.

(estimated) means our note on that chain is hedged, so read the oil as a good guess rather than a confirmed fact. How we read these notes.

Cleanest picks

No chain we track in Mexico fries in real fats alone. These come closest: they mix real fats with other oils, or fry in palm or peanut oil.

• Dunkin' Palm oil and vegetable oil blend (estimated)
• Krispy Kreme Palm oil and vegetable oil blend (estimated)
• Little Caesars Vegetable oil blend and butter (estimated)

All 28 chains

Same chain, different oil

A chain can fry in one oil at home and another abroad. Of the 14 chains we can compare with the U.S., 12 show a different fryer oil in Mexico. Rows where the color changes come first. 2 more chains list the same oil in both places.

The brands that state their fryer oil in many countries are compared in Same chain, different country.

How people cook in Mexico

Vegetable oil is the everyday frying and cooking fat in Mexico, and soybean oil is the biggest: a USDA forecast reported by Oils & Fats International in May 2023 put it at about 61% of the roughly 2.3 million tonnes of vegetable oil Mexico was expected to use in 2023/24.

Mexico also makes a lot of canola (rapeseed) oil, and palm oil was its third biggest home-produced oil, so treat these as rough numbers.

Lard (manteca de cerdo) is still the traditional fat for carnitas and a traditional fat for refried beans, tamales and flour tortillas (many cooks now use oil or vegetable shortening instead), while bottled oils (soybean, canola, corn, sunflower, safflower or blends) are widely used at home and by many taquerias and street stands.

Big fast-food chains in Mexico generally do not say which oil they fry in (McDonald's Mexico says only that its McNuggets are cooked in 'aceite vegetal'), so the oil could be soybean, canola, palm or a blend. What a given stand or restaurant uses varies, so ask.

Reading labels

In the 2010 text of Mexico's labelling standard (NOM-051-SCFI/SSA1-2010; a 2020 update added the black warning seals, so check the current version), refined oils other than olive oil may be listed as just 'aceite vegetal' with no plant named ('hidrogenado' is added if hydrogenated), while lard and beef fat must always be named ('manteca de cerdo', 'grasa de bovino' or 'sebo').

The same text exempts soybean oil from the soy allergen declaration, so 'soya' may not be flagged on a product that uses soybean oil.

Say it in Spanish

Read these out loud or show your phone to your server. The first two rows are the questions to ask. The rest are the oil names you will see on menus and labels.

Tips for eating out in Mexico

• Ask '¿Con qué aceite fríen esto?'. If the answer is just 'aceite vegetal', it can be any oil or blend, most often soybean based, so a vague answer does not rule out seed oil. Places that make carnitas or chicharrón may answer 'manteca' (lard), the traditional fat.
• In Mexico 'manteca' means lard and 'mantequilla' means butter. 'Manteca vegetal' is vegetable shortening, not lard.
• Choose grilled or spit-roasted food (carne asada, tacos al pastor, 'al carbón', 'a la parrilla') over anything 'frito', 'dorado' (fried crisp), 'empanizado' (breaded) or 'capeado' (battered). A griddle (plancha) may still use oil or lard, so ask.
• On packaged food, 'aceite vegetal' can be any refined oil except olive oil. Lard and beef fat must be named by law, so a label that says 'manteca de cerdo' or 'sebo' is telling you exactly what it is.

Sources

The cooking, label and tip sections come from these pages. The chain fryer oils come from our own records.

1. NOM-051-SCFI/SSA1-2010, Diario Oficial de la Federación, 5 April 2010 (labelling of prepackaged food)
2. Slower growth forecast for Mexican vegetable oil and meal sectors (OFI Magazine, 11 May 2023, citing USDA Mexico Oilseeds and Products Annual)
3. Mexico Vegetable Oil Market (IMARC Group, market research)
4. Carnitas (Wikipedia)

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