Peanut Oil
This page explains what Peanut Oil is, where it shows up in restaurant food, and which ingredient reports connect to it.
- Concern
- Moderate Concern
- Function
- Oil
- Updated
- 2026-03-03
What this is
Peanut oil (groundnut oil) is an edible oil pressed from peanuts. It’s widely used for frying in fast food because of its high smoke point and neutral flavor. Peanut oil is primarily unsaturated fat – roughly half monounsaturated and about one-fifth polyunsaturated – with relatively low saturated fat. This heart-friendly fat profile means using peanut oil in place of butter or lard can help lower “bad” LDL cholesterol. Overall, peanut oil is considered a safe cooking oil for most people. The main safety concern is for those with peanut allergies: highly refined peanut oil contains almost no peanut protein and is usually tolerated, but unrefined peanut oils can trigger serious allergic reactions.
Critical Endpoints
The key endpoints experts review in safety assessments (critical endpoints). This is not a prediction of harm.
Restaurant Usage
3 linked ingredient reports
State Actions
0 current actions
No current state action is listed for this ingredient in the policy tracker.