Emu oil comes from the fat deposits of the emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae), a large flightless bird native to Australia. The oil is rendered primarily from two fat sources on the bird: a thick pad of subcutaneous fat along the emu’s back, and deeper fat surrounding the internal organs, known as retroperitoneal fat. The back fat pad is the most well-known source, as emus store large reserves of fat there to sustain them through periods of scarce food in the Australian outback.
The Fat Deposits That Produce the Oil
Emus are unusual among birds in how much fat they carry and where they store it. The back pad, a layer of subcutaneous fat running along the bird’s dorsal side, can yield a significant volume of raw material from a single animal. A second deposit sits deeper in the body cavity around the kidneys and other organs. Both sources contribute to commercial emu oil production, though the back pad is the primary one referenced in the industry.
These fat reserves serve the emu in the wild. Male emus incubate eggs for roughly eight weeks, barely eating during that time, and the stored fat fuels them through the process. This biological design means the fat is rich in energy-dense fatty acids, which is ultimately what gives the rendered oil its distinctive composition.
How Raw Fat Becomes Refined Oil
Turning emu fat into the clear, odorless oil you find in bottles involves several stages. After the fat is harvested, it goes through washing, cooking, and separation to pull the liquid fat away from the tissue. The collected fat is then either macerated or passed through a centrifuge to liquefy it, and the resulting liquid is filtered to remove impurities.
That produces a crude oil, but most commercial products go through further refining. The full process includes neutralizing free fatty acids with a caustic solution, bleaching to remove color, deodorizing to eliminate any remaining smell, and a step called winterization, which removes saturated fats that would otherwise solidify at cool temperatures. The result is a smooth, shelf-stable oil with a light texture.
What’s Actually in the Oil
Emu oil’s fatty acid profile is what sets it apart from many plant and animal oils. It contains roughly 42% oleic acid, the same monounsaturated fat that makes olive oil a dietary staple. About 21% is linoleic acid, an omega-6 fat your skin uses for barrier repair, and another 21% is palmitic acid, a saturated fat that gives the oil its smooth feel on skin. There’s also a small amount (around 1%) of alpha-linolenic acid, an omega-3 fat.
This blend of unsaturated and saturated fats is part of why emu oil penetrates skin unusually well. Research using infrared microscopy has shown that the unsaturated components of emu oil can accumulate roughly 270 micrometers below the skin surface. At that depth, the oil interacts with both the lipid and protein structures in the outermost skin barrier, loosening the tightly packed arrangement of skin proteins in a way that allows other compounds to pass through more easily. This is why emu oil shows up not just as a moisturizer but as a carrier ingredient designed to help other active ingredients absorb more deeply.
A Long History of Use
Australian Aboriginal peoples used emu oil long before it became a commercial product. Indigenous communities treated it as a traditional functional food and applied it topically for skin protection and wound care. European settlers in Australia eventually adopted some of these uses, and by the late 20th century, emu farming had spread to the United States and other countries, with the oil becoming a commercially traded product.
Emu Farming and Byproduct Status
Emu oil is one product from a multi-use animal. Emu farms raise birds for meat, leather, feathers, and eggs in addition to oil. The oil is essentially a byproduct of the meat industry, rendered from fat that would otherwise be discarded during processing. This structure means oil production doesn’t drive farming on its own, but it does add significant economic value to each bird.
The industry remains relatively small. The Agricultural Marketing Resource Center notes that one of the ongoing challenges for ratite farming (emus and ostriches) is the need to develop sustainable markets for all of the bird’s products simultaneously. Without strong demand for meat and leather alongside oil, farms struggle with profitability. Most emu farming in the U.S. operates on a small scale compared to conventional poultry.
How Quality Is Graded
Not all emu oil on the market is the same quality. The American Emu Association runs a certification program that sets standards for what qualifies as fully refined Grade A emu oil. To earn the AEA Certified Fully Refined seal, a refinery must assign a batch code to each production run and send a sample to an independent chemist certified by the American Oil Chemists’ Society for testing. The test results are filed with the AEA, and the batch code must appear on the product label.
Only Grade A oil can carry the certification seal. If you’re buying emu oil for skin care or therapeutic purposes, looking for AEA certification is one of the more reliable ways to verify you’re getting a fully refined product rather than crude or partially processed oil, which can vary widely in purity and fatty acid content.