Common Questions

No. Not all canola on the market is genetically modified, and ours isn't either. We grow Clearfield canola, which gets its herbicide tolerance through traditional selective breeding — not genetic engineering. That means it's classified as non-GMO, the same as any conventionally bred crop.

This is one of the most common myths out there, and it comes from confusing canola with old-style rapeseed. Rapeseed oil was high in erucic acid, a compound linked to heart issues in large amounts, which is why it was historically used for things like machine lubricant rather than food.

In the 1970s, Canadian plant breeders used traditional selective breeding — not genetic engineering — to develop a new variety with less than 2% erucic acid and low glucosinolates, essentially a different plant with a different profile. That new variety was named canola, and it's been extensively studied and recognized as safe for human consumption ever since, including by Health Canada. What's in our bottle really is just cold-pressed canola oil, nothing more.

"Canola" stands for "Canadian oil, low acid." Canadian breeders coined the name in 1978 for the new, food-safe variety described above — it isn't a rebrand of the same old product, it's a genuinely different plant, bred specifically to be safe and healthy for cooking.

No. We grow Clearfield canola, a non-GMO variety developed through traditional breeding, not genetic engineering (see our GMO answer above). Monsanto, now part of Bayer, sells one type of genetically modified, herbicide-tolerant canola seed on the market, but Monsanto doesn't own canola as a crop, and plenty of canola grown in Canada — including ours — has nothing to do with them. We buy our own seed, grow it ourselves, and know exactly what's in every bottle.

Our seed goes straight into a mechanical screw press, where pressure alone releases the oil — no heat, no chemical solvents, no additives. The fresh oil is left to settle naturally before it's filtered and bottled, so what you get is exactly what came out of the seed.

Yes. In Canada, canola oil qualifies for a health claim allowing it to be described as helping lower blood cholesterol when it replaces saturated fat in the diet, which can help reduce the risk of heart disease. This is based on canola's fat profile — very low in saturated fat and high in unsaturated fats, including plant-based omega-3 — not on how the oil is pressed, so it applies to cold-pressed canola oil the same as any other canola oil. Health Canada doesn't issue a specific seal for individual products, but the underlying science and approved claim apply to Montney Gold.

They're both great oils with different strengths. Canola oil has about half the saturated fat of olive oil (roughly 7% vs. 14%) and is the richest common cooking oil source of plant-based omega-3s, which olive oil doesn't really offer. It also has a higher smoke point, so it holds up better to high-heat cooking.

Extra virgin olive oil has a higher percentage of monounsaturated fat and is rich in polyphenols — antioxidant compounds that give it its bold flavour and some additional health benefits canola oil doesn't have. In short: reach for Montney Gold for higher-heat cooking, baking and everyday use where a light, clean flavour and less saturated fat matter most; extra virgin olive oil shines in dressings and finishing dishes where its bolder flavour is the point.

After harvest, we take our seed to the seed cleaning plant in Fort St. John, where it's cleaned and bagged for us in sealed 50-pound bags. That way, we can press it in small batches whenever we're ready, instead of all at once.

We batch-test Montney Gold through Eurofins, an independent food-testing lab, to keep an eye on freshness and quality. Our most recent batch (May 2026) came back with a Peroxide Value of 2.6 meq/kg, Free Fatty Acids of 0.93%, and an Oxidative Stability Index of 9 hours.

For best results, we recommend storing your bottle in the fridge. Montney Gold stays clear and doesn't go cloudy when chilled, so it's ready to pour any time.

Yes. We grow our own canola, harvest our own seed, press it ourselves with our own equipment, and bottle it in small batches — all right here in Montney, BC. We don't buy commodity oil and put our label on it.