Quality Assessment of Oil Used for Frying of Potato Chips: In the Case of Wolkite University Community

Abstract

Frying is an old and widely used method of cooking and processing food. Typically, a food is immersed in heated oil for a short duration in a process known as immersion-oil frying. Consumers tend to associate color with flavor, safety, storage time, nutrition, and level of satisfaction, due to the fact that color correlates well with physical, chemical, and sensorial evaluations of food quality. Indicators of poor oil quality include elevated FFA, low smoke point, change of color, low iodine value, peroxide value, total polar material, high foaming properties and increased viscosity. Deep frying and the use of recycled oil for many times is a commonly practiced in commercial and sometimes in domestic cooking processes. The way of this cooking method may create a lipid peroxidation product which brings harm to human health. Quality assessment of oil used for frying of potato chips in the case of Wolkite university community studied. The result of physicochemical properties of oil were investigated from sample selected randomly around Wolkite town and these are free fatty acid, peroxide value, smoking point and iodine value of recycled oils was higher than the recommended values. The strength of current evidence makes it reasonable to recommend complete avoidance of fried foods or at most infrequent to moderate fried food consumption within the context of an overall healthy dietary pattern around Wolkite town. Generally, the present study shows the recycled oil used were not as standards of FAO and also the people of fried food makers were not having awareness about the impacts of recycled oils.