Both amount and type of dietary triglycerides regulate pancreatic lipase, but the mechanism is not fully understood. This study investigated the effects of type (safflower oil and lard) and amount [low (50 g/kg diet) or moderate (174 g/kg diet)] of fat on rat pancreatic lipase (rPL) activity and mRNA levels. Polyunsaturated safflower oil resulted in 80% greater lipase activity compared with the saturated lard at moderate levels, whereas safflower oil resulted in 50% lower lipase activity compared with lard at low levels. The rPL-3 mRNA levels were greater in rats fed the moderate safflower oil diet (163%) or the moderate lard diet (212%) than in those fed the respective low fat diets and were 45% greater in those fed safflower oil than in those fed lard. The rPL-1 mRNA levels were greater in rats fed moderate safflower oil (50%) or lard (135%) than in those fed the respective low fat diet, but these levels were not affected by type of fat, in contrast to rPL-3 mRNA levels. The amount of fat independent of its type regulates pancreatic lipase pre-translationally, because increasing dietary saturated or polyunsaturated fat resulted in parallel changes in rPL-3 and rPL-1 mRNA levels. However, type of fat may regulate pancreatic lipase at other levels such as translational or post-translational, because the 212% increase in rPL-3 mRNA in rats fed the moderate lard diet compared with the low lard diet did not result in greater pancreatic lipase activity.