Seed oils in France
Of the 27 chains we track in France, none use real fats in the fryer and 21 use seed oils. That leaves 6 with something in between, no fryer or no answer. Below: what they fry in, how people cook there, how to read a label and what to say to ask about the oil.
What the chains fry in
These are the 27 chains we track in France, 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 France fries in real fats alone. These come closest: they mix real fats with other oils, or fry in palm or peanut oil.
All 27 chains
| Chain | Fryer oil |
|---|---|
| Bagelstein | Sunflower oil (estimated) |
| Brioche Dorée | Vegetable oil blend (estimated) |
| Buffalo Grill | Sunflower oil (estimated) |
| Burger King | Vegetable oil blend and rapeseed oil (estimated) |
| class'croute | Sunflower oil |
| Cojean | No fryer |
| Columbus Café | Sunflower and rapeseed oil (estimated) |
| Courtepaille | Sunflower oil (estimated) |
| Del Arte | Vegetable oil blend (estimated) |
| Domino's | Vegetable oil blend (estimated) |
| EXKi | No fryer |
| Five Guys | Rapeseed oil |
| Hippopotamus | Sunflower oil (estimated) |
| KFC | Sunflower and rapeseed oil |
| Léon | Sunflower oil (estimated) |
| McDonald's | Sunflower and rapeseed oil |
| O'Tacos | Palm and rapeseed oil (estimated) |
| Paul | Palm oil and vegetable oil blend |
| Pitaya | Vegetable oil blend (estimated) |
| Pizza Hut | Vegetable oil blend (estimated) |
| Planet Sushi | Sunflower oil (estimated) |
| Pomme de Pain | No fryer |
| Popeyes | Vegetable oil blend and sunflower oil (estimated) |
| Quick | Sunflower oil |
| Starbucks | No fryer |
| Subway | Rapeseed and canola oil (estimated) |
| Sushi Shop | Sunflower oil (estimated) |
Same chain, different oil
A chain can fry in one oil at home and another abroad. We can compare 7 chains with the U.S., and all 7 show a different fryer oil in France. Rows where the color changes come first.
| Chain | In the U.S. | In France |
|---|---|---|
| Five Guys | Peanut oil | Rapeseed oil |
| Popeyes | Beef tallow | Vegetable oil blend and sunflower oil (estimated) |
| Burger King | Corn and cottonseed oil | Vegetable oil blend and rapeseed oil (estimated) |
| Domino's | Soybean and canola oil | Vegetable oil blend (estimated) |
| KFC | Canola and soybean oil | Sunflower and rapeseed oil |
| McDonald's | Canola and soybean oil | Sunflower and rapeseed oil |
| Pizza Hut | Soybean oil and vegetable oil blend | Vegetable oil blend (estimated) |
The brands that state their fryer oil in many countries are compared in Same chain, different country.
How people cook in France
French home cooks lean on butter, olive oil (especially in the south) and bottled sunflower, rapeseed (colza) or peanut oil, with duck fat traditional in the southwest. In northern France and Belgium, traditional friteries cook fries in beef fat (graisse de bœuf, often the 'Blanc de bœuf' brand), but not every shop does, so ask.
A French government leaflet for food businesses gives peanut oil as an example of a heat stable frying oil and says to avoid sunflower, soy, rapeseed, corn and palm oil, and French law treats frying fat with more than 25% polar compounds (breakdown products that build up as oil is reused) as unfit to eat.
Fast-food chains that say what they use name sunflower and rapeseed blends (McDonald's France, and KFC France says no palm oil), Five Guys uses peanut oil, Popeyes France says its fries are cooked in vegetable oil plus beef fat, and Burger King France does not name its oil.
Reading labels
French labels follow EU Regulation 1169/2011 (Annex VII): refined vegetable oils and fats can be grouped as 'huiles végétales' or 'graisses végétales' only if each plant is named right after (usually in brackets, for example 'huiles végétales (tournesol, colza)'), sometimes followed by 'en proportions variables', and hydrogenated ones must say so ('totalement hydrogénée' or 'partiellement hydrogénée').
Many French products advertise 'sans huile de palme', which often means sunflower or rapeseed oil replaced it.
Say it in French
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.
| You want to say | Say it like this |
|---|---|
| Ask the kitchen | |
| What oil do you fry with? | Avec quelle huile faites-vous frire ? |
| Can you cook it in butter or olive oil? | Pouvez-vous le cuire au beurre ou à l'huile d'olive ? |
| Seed oils to watch for | |
| Sunflower oil | huile de tournesol |
| Canola oil | huile de colza |
| Soybean oil | huile de soja |
| Vegetable oil (often a seed oil blend) | huile végétale ('huile de friture' just means frying oil, type not stated) |
| Fats to ask for | |
| Olive oil | huile d'olive |
| Butter | beurre |
| Lard | saindoux (in French, 'lard' means bacon) |
| Beef tallow | graisse de bœuf (suif) |
| In between | |
| Palm oil | huile de palme |
Tips for eating out in France
- Ask 'Avec quelle huile faites-vous frire ?'. If the answer is just 'huile de friture' (frying oil), follow up: 'Tournesol, colza, arachide ou graisse de bœuf ?' (arachide is peanut).
- Choose fish and meat cooked 'au beurre' (in butter) or grilled ('grillé'), and in the south 'à l'huile d'olive'. 'À la plancha' (griddled) may use any oil, so ask. Duck fat (graisse de canard) is traditional in the southwest for confit and potatoes.
- In the north (Hauts-de-France) and Belgium, friteries traditionally fry in beef fat. Ask 'C'est à la graisse de bœuf ou à l'huile ?'. Beef fat is an animal fat rather than a seed oil, but it is not vegetarian.
- On packaged food, EU rules force plant names, so scan for 'huile de colza', 'huile de tournesol' and 'huile de palme'. 'Sans huile de palme' does not mean seed oil free.
Use the app on your trip
Seed Oil Tracker has local menus for 27 chains in France. Switch your country in Settings before you go.
Download for iPhone Get it on Google Play
Free to download. Want the full tour first? See what the app does.
Sources
The cooking, label and tip sections come from these pages. The chain fryer oils come from our own records.
- Les huiles de friture: comment limiter leur dégradation (DIRECCTE Languedoc-Roussillon-Midi-Pyrénées, July 2016; cites decree 2008-184 on the 25% polar compound limit)
- Friterie (Wikipedia FR: beef fat used for fries in Belgium and northern France, no source cited)
- Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, Annex VII (UK copy of the same text, read for the oil grouping rule)
- Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, official EU text (not opened in this session)
More countries
Menus, recipes and rules change, so treat this page as a starting point and check the label or ask in the moment. Need a refresher on what counts? See what seed oils are and the full list. Back home, the eating out playbook covers restaurants in the U.S.