Science, Tech, Math › Science What Is the pH of Vegetable Oil? Share Flipboard Email Print Michelle Arnold / EyeEm / Getty Images Science Chemistry Basics Chemical Laws Molecules Periodic Table Projects & Experiments Scientific Method Biochemistry Physical Chemistry Medical Chemistry Chemistry In Everyday Life Famous Chemists Activities for Kids Abbreviations & Acronyms Biology Physics Geology Astronomy Weather & Climate By Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D. Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D. Facebook Twitter Chemistry Expert Ph.D., Biomedical Sciences, University of Tennessee at Knoxville B.A., Physics and Mathematics, Hastings College Dr. Helmenstine holds a Ph.D. in biomedical sciences and is a science writer, educator, and consultant. She has taught science courses at the high school, college, and graduate levels. Learn about our Editorial Process Updated on November 30, 2019 In chemistry, pH is a scale used to measure the relative acidity or basicity of an aqueous solution—that is, one in which a solute (salt, sugar, etc.) is dissolved in water. Because only aqueous solutions have pH levels, vegetable oil has no pH value. Likewise, other oils such as animal and petrochemical oils also have no pH value. Acidity as it relates to flavor should not be confused with an oil's fatty acid content. Fatty acids are organic molecules often found in foods, including vegetable oils. Olive oil consists primarily of oleic acid, with smaller quantities of palmitoleic acid and linoleic acid. The purest olive oils have a very low volume of free fatty acids (less than 2%). These acids, again, have nothing to do with pH levels. Cite this Article Format mla apa chicago Your Citation Helmenstine, Anne Marie, Ph.D. "What Is the pH of Vegetable Oil?" ThoughtCo, Aug. 28, 2020, thoughtco.com/the-ph-of-vegetable-oil-608887. Helmenstine, Anne Marie, Ph.D. (2020, August 28). What Is the pH of Vegetable Oil? Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/the-ph-of-vegetable-oil-608887 Helmenstine, Anne Marie, Ph.D. "What Is the pH of Vegetable Oil?" ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/the-ph-of-vegetable-oil-608887 (accessed June 9, 2023). copy citation