A process for producing a processed glyceride having a satisfactory color tone
and having high purity without the need of a fractionation step, by mitigating
the deterioration in a color tone caused by the processing and recycling of a fatty
acid ester recovered after an interesterification reaction. The process comprises
subjecting a glyceride fat and a fatty acid ester and/or a free fatty acid to interesterification,
distilling the reaction product to recover a part or all of fatty acid esters and/or
free fatty acids therein, subjecting the distillation fraction recovered to hydrogenation,
and to re-distillation or mixing with the fresh fatty acid ester and/or fresh free
fatty acid in any order, re-reacting the resultant fraction or mixture with the
distillation residue, and separating a fat fraction from the final reaction product,
and is characterized in that the content of components other than the fatty acid
ester and/or free fatty acid is controlled to 3.0 wt. % or lower.