Open our ingredient list and you'll notice something missing: no canola, no soybean, no "vegetable oil." That's not an accident.
What are seed oils, exactly?
Seed oils are cooking oils extracted from the seeds of plants: canola, soybean, sunflower, safflower, corn, and a handful of others. They showed up in American kitchens in a big way over the last century because they're cheap to produce, shelf-stable, and neutral-tasting, which makes them useful for everything from frying to mass-produced baked goods.
They're not some invented villain ingredient, and the mainstream nutrition science on them is genuinely mixed. Harvard Health and Cleveland Clinic have both published pieces pushing back on the idea that seed oils are broadly "toxic." For us, this is a taste and ingredient-quality decision, not a health warning.
Why do most packaged cookies use them anyway?
Cost and consistency, mostly. Seed oils are less expensive than butter, they don't need refrigeration, and they behave predictably at scale, which matters a lot when you're baking thousands of cookies instead of a small batch in your own kitchen. The tradeoff is flavor. Oil is neutral. Butter isn't.
What we use instead
Real butter, cocoa butter, and real peanut butter made from 100% dry-roasted peanuts (in our Protein Cookie). No canola, soybean, sunflower, safflower, corn, or generic "vegetable oil" in any Fields Good cookie.
Peanuts are legumes, not seeds, and peanut butter made from dry-roasted peanuts isn't the same thing as refined peanut oil. The Protein Cookie's richness comes from whole, recognizable peanuts, not an extracted seed oil.
Is sunflower lecithin a seed oil?
No, and it's worth explaining the distinction since it's the one place our label gets closest to seed-derived ingredients. The Focus Cookie contains a small amount of sunflower lecithin (an emulsifier that helps ingredients bind) and tocopherols (a natural vitamin-E antioxidant that helps keep fats from going rancid). Both are seed-derived, but neither is a seed oil; they're used in trace amounts for a different function, and many people avoiding seed oils for taste or ingredient-quality reasons don't treat lecithin or tocopherols the same way they treat a cup of canola oil in a batter.
Quick Answers
Are Fields Good cookies seed-oil free?
Yes. Every Fields Good cookie is made without seed or vegetable oils — no canola, soybean, sunflower, safflower, corn, or "vegetable oil." The richness comes from real butter, cocoa butter, and, in the Protein Cookie, real peanut butter.
Is peanut butter a seed oil?
No. Peanuts are legumes, and our Protein Cookie uses real peanut butter made from 100% dry-roasted peanuts — not refined peanut oil or any seed oil.
Does avoiding seed oils mean you think they're unsafe?
No. The research on seed oils and health is genuinely debated, and mainstream nutrition science doesn't treat them as unsafe. This is an ingredient-quality and flavor choice for us, not a health claim.
What about the sunflower lecithin in the Focus Cookie?
Sunflower lecithin and tocopherols are seed-derived, but they're not seed oils — they're used in trace amounts as an emulsifier and a natural antioxidant, not as a cooking fat.
