Quality of deep frying oils and fats used in street-fairs in Goiânia, Brazil

• Main Authors: Poliana Cristina Mendonça Freire, Lorrany Cristina Boel Lobo, Giselle da Silva Freitas, Tânia Aparecida Pinto de Castro Ferreira
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Sociedade Brasileira de Ciência e Tecnologia de Alimentos 2013-09-01
• Series: Food Science and Technology
• Subjects: food quality; frying process; street-food; food-service; peroxide value; total polar compounds
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0101-20612013000300028&lng=en&tlng=en

Fried foods are widely consumed in Brazil and their quality depends on the oil or fat they are fried. Qualitative (physical chemistry indices) and quantitative measurements (fry-life oil or fat until disposal, oil turnover, type of oil or fat and amount and type of fried foods) and associations were performed. We applied a structured form and collected 60 mL of frying oil or fat in each of the 70 fried food stands of 15 street-fairs in Goiânia, Brazil. All samples were suitable in the quantity of free fat acids (<0.9% oleic acid), one was inadequate to peroxide value (>10 mEq/kg) and 1/3 was unsuitable to polar compounds (<25%). The majority (62%) use temperature up to the allowed (180 ºC). Approximately 250 units of products are fried in at least one day in 42% of the fried food stands. Soybean oil is used in the majority (94%) of fried food stands and the fry-life is of 6 hours (60%) or a day of work/sale. The nonconformity of the content of total polar compounds in fried foods had significant association with frying time and the conformity of acidity had significant relationship with frying time by a chi-square test. All other associations were not significant. A fry-life of oil or fat up to 6 hours can avoid the excess of polar compounds in the frying medium and protect the quality of fred foods.