The (disgusting) truth about margarine

Hydration became famous in North America because this kind of oil doesn’t go bad as fast as normal oil and therefore lasts way longer. You can easily leave a block of margarine outside for years and no mold, insects or other animals are going to touch it. It’s a “non-food”. It’s obvious that only human are stupid enough to eat it!

There are plenty of Swedish websites (made by medical doctors among others) explaining the truth about margarine and how it's made. To find a credible English website explaining the same thing was harder but I finally found one that did:

Margarine production starts with the cheapest and lowest quality vegetable oils: corn, cottonseed, soybean and others. These oils are already rancid and loaded with (dangerous) free radicals to begin with. Last bits of oil are removed from the seeds using hexane, a cancer-causing solvent, traces of which are always left behind. The most troublesome is cottonseed oil, which has natural toxins in addition with leftover pesticides and bad Omega3/Omega 6 fatty acids ratio. Moreover, the majority of these vegetable oils come from genetically modifies (GMO) crops.
First, oil is cleaned using steam – a process that destroys all vitamins and antioxidants. Then the catalysts for the next reaction – hydrogenation – are added. Most common catalyst is a toxic heavy metal called nickel. Incomplete removal of catalysts after the hydrogenation process can give margarine greenish or grayish color and be harmful to human health.
Next, the oil is put under high temperature and pressure, with the addition of hydrogen gas. Hydrogen causes partially hardening of the oil, forming harmful trans-fats. If the oils should be allowed to harden completely then no trans-fats would remain. However, that kind of product wouldn't be edible. Instead, out of the process comes partially hydrogenated, grey smelly paste. It is not something anyone would like for breakfast.
To remove the odor, it is again put through steam and afterwards bleached until it turns white. This is followed by adding synthetic vitamins and artificial flavors. A natural color (yellow) is also added to make margarine resemble butter.
Lastly, the mass is cut into small blocks and wrapped. The outer side of wrapping material often contains images of sunflowers, meadows, etc., making margarine look like the most natural product.
(Source: http://www.mcarticles.com/)

So what would you choose? Butter that is a completely natural product we've used for thousands of years OR a chemical substance that is so far away from being natural (and tastes awful!)? Tough choice right!?

The source of Margarine

The source of Butter