Résumé
New concerns have appeared recently from the European and American consumers about quality, safety and environmental impact of the food products. In the particular case of European countries, the coming back of traditional products with a high sentimental value should be noticed. To fit the forthcoming demand of the consumer, the Oils and Fats industry have to develop a new approach based on alternative technologies that may emerge from the research with very specific objectives: no solvents, mild technologies, less energy consumption and final wastes. The purpose of this article is to discuss about the new biological tools capable to generate alternative ways for the oil elaboration: use of enzymes for destructuration of the vegetal or animal tissues and the subsequent utilisation of membrane techniques for the separation and purification steps. These new technologies involving less heat and mechanical stress to the oil, lead to a better “native” quality of the final products. However, fundamental research is needed on the separation mechanisms of those complex mixtures to optimise the process and prepare the transfer to the industrial conditions. The present article reports a contribution on the aqueous extraction of rapeseed oil as an example