Erucic acid is a monounsaturated omega-9 fatty acid, denoted 22:1ω9. It has the chemical formula: CH3(CH2)7CH=CH(CH2)11CO2H. It is prevalent in wallflower seed and other plants in the family Brassicaceae, with a reported content of 20 to 54% in high erucic acid rapeseed oil and 42% in mustard oil. Erucic acid is also known as cis-13-docosenoic acid and the trans isomer is known as brassidic acid. Cetoleic acid is a positional isomer of erucic acid.
Rapeseed (Brassica napus subsp. napus), also known as rape and oilseed rape and canola, is a bright-yellow flowering member of the family Brassicaceae (mustard or cabbage family), cultivated mainly for its oil-rich seed, which naturally contains appreciable amounts of mildly toxic erucic acid. The term "canola" denotes a group of rapeseed cultivars that were bred to have very low levels of erucic acid and which are especially prized for use as human and animal food. Rapeseed is the third-largest source of vegetable oil and the second-largest source of protein meal in the world.
Rapeseed oil is one of the oldest known vegetable oils. There are both edible and industrial forms produced from rapeseed, the seed of several cultivars of the plant family Brassicaceae (mustards). The term "rapeseed" applies to oilseeds from the species Brassica napus and Brassica rapa, while the term canola refers to specific rapeseed varieties bred to produce oil for use in human and animal foods. In manufacturing, the edible varieties of canola are required to contain less than 2% erucic acid in Canada, the United States, European Union, and many other countries.
Canola is produced as low erucic acid rapeseed (LEAR) oil and is generally recognized as safe (GRAS) by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA).