Quality, Nutritional Value, and Selected Safety Parameters of Rapeseed Oils on the Central European Market

This survey of rapeseed oils purchased on the Central European retail market in 2025 included 31 products: 19 refined oils (including three declared as gently refined and one high-oleic oil) and 12 cold-pressed oils; seven products (six cold-pressed and one refined) came from certified organic farming. The oils demonstrated high quality of technological processing with low values of trans-unsaturated fatty acids, acid value, and peroxide value and also met the limits set by legislation in the content of erucic acid, process contaminants 3-monochloropropane-1,2-diol (3-MCPD) esters and glycidyl esters, and residue of pesticides. Oxidative stability, expressed as the induction period ranging from 2.4 to 5.6 h, predisposes them to cold cooking or short-term frying, while the 6.1 h of the high oleic rapeseed oil (HORO) indicates the possibility of medium-term heat stress. The nutritional benefit is a low content of saturated fatty acids (5.69–8.15%) and a high content of mono- and polyunsaturated fatty acids, with a favorable n-3 α-linolenic acid proportion ranging from 7.04 to 10.33%, and an average vitamin E content of 305 mg/kg oil. Sensory quality ranged from excellent to fair; cold-pressed oils were characterized by a more pronounced color, aroma, and typical nutty flavor, whereas refined oils were sensorially almost neutral. Within the analyzed set of products and the parameters determined, the results indicate that rapeseed oil available on the Central European market is a nutritionally valuable and technologically high-quality commodity. Principal component analysis showed that the processing technology (refined vs. cold-pressed) was the main factor structuring the data, followed by tocopherol content and oxidative status, whereas organic and conventional cold-pressed oils were not differentiated.