Seed oils in the Netherlands

What the chains fry in

These are the 15 chains we track in the Netherlands, 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 the Netherlands fries in real fats alone. These come closest: they mix real fats with other oils, or fry in palm or peanut oil.

• Burger King Palm oil (estimated)
• Five Guys Peanut oil
• Kwalitaria Palm oil (estimated)
• McDonald's Vegetable oil blend and high-oleic oil

All 15 chains

Same chain, different oil

A chain can fry in one oil at home and another abroad. Of the 4 chains we can compare with the U.S., 3 show a different fryer oil in the Netherlands. Rows where the color changes come first. 1 more chain lists 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 the Netherlands

Dutch home cooks commonly pan-fry with butter (roomboter), olive oil, sunflower oil or 'vloeibaar bak- en braadvet' (liquid frying fat, made mostly from plant oils).

The national nutrition centre (Voedingscentrum) advises swapping fats high in saturated fat, such as butter, for unsaturated ones such as liquid frying fat, olive oil and sunflower oil, so mainstream Dutch advice does not discourage seed oils. Snack bars deep-fry fries, frikandellen and croquettes in frying fat.

In 2009 the consumer group Consumentenbond reported that many snack bars still used hard frying fat with trans fat. In its late 2010 test, about three quarters fried in liquid fat, and the Voedingscentrum says trans fats are now almost gone from Dutch frying fats. Snack bars do not have to name the blend, which may include palm, rapeseed or sunflower.

In Belgium, a 2011 report said most chip shops still used traditional beef fat (ossenwit).

Reading labels

Packaged food in the Netherlands follows EU Regulation 1169/2011. Oils can be grouped as 'plantaardige oliën' (vegetable oils) only if the plants are listed right after, for example 'plantaardige oliën (zonnebloem, koolzaad)', so palm has to be named, and hydrogenated fats must say 'volledig gehard' or 'gedeeltelijk gehard'.

These rules cover packaged food, so snack bar and restaurant menus generally do not have to name the frying fat.

Say it in Dutch

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 the Netherlands

• At a snack bar (snackbar or cafetaria), ask 'Welke olie of welk vet gebruikt u om te frituren?'. In a 2010 consumer test about three quarters fried in liquid fat, which is plant-based, but the blend is not named and may include palm. Belgian chip shops traditionally use beef fat, so it is worth asking at Belgian-style 'Vlaamse friet' shops too.
• On bakery and pastry labels, look for 'roomboter' (real butter). 'Margarine' or 'plantaardig vet' means vegetable fats such as palm or seed oils.
• Deep-fried snacks (frikandel, kroket, kibbeling, lekkerbek) all go through the shop fryer. Raw herring (haring, lightly salted) and smoked fish are not fried, so they are easy picks at a fish stall. Ask what the fried fish is cooked in.
• In supermarkets, butter and olive oil are easy to find, so self-catering is a simple way to control the fat.

Sources

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

1. Voedingscentrum: Vetten. Olive oil, sunflower oil and liquid frying fats favoured over butter; trans fats almost gone from Dutch frying fats
2. PotatoPro (reporting a Consumentenbond test, 2011): Dutch fries increasingly fried in liquid fat; Belgian shops still use beef fat (ossenwit)
3. PotatoPro (reporting a Consumentenbond test, 2009): snack bars still often used hard frying fat with trans fat
4. Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, Annex VII (wording checked on the UK legislation.gov.uk copy of the EU text)
5. Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, official text on EUR-Lex (page would not load for us)

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