text: what is cottonseed oil used for?   cottonseed oil is commonly used in manufacturing potato chips and other snack foods. along with soybean oil, it is very often partially or fully hydrogenated. the growing consensus is that in hydrogenated (trans fat) from these oils are very unhealthy. cottonseed oil was the first oil to be hydrogenated in mass production, originally intended for candle production, and soon also as a food (as crisco). in part because regulations apply differently to non-food crops, it has also been suggested that cottonseed oil may be highly contaminated with pesticide residues, but insufficient testing has been done