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Reducing quality degradation of frying oil and maintaining fried food quality by active treatment of oil |
R. BHEEMREDDY1, M. S. Chinnan1, K. S. Pannu2, K. Holownia1, and A. E. Reynolds3. (1) Center for Food Safety and Quality Enhancement, University of Georgia, 1109 Experiment Street, Griffin, GA 30223-1797, (2) Washington State University, Pullman, WA, (3) Department of Food Science and Technology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602 Fried products are the backbone of the menus at fast-food restaurants. Degradation of oil quality from repeated frying is of great concern related to the economics and the fried food quality. The objective was to evaluate the effectiveness of a blend of chemical adsorbents and filtration protocol for enhancing the fry-life of frying oil in a simulated foodservice environment. Frozen chicken patties were fried in a 50-lb restaurant-type fryer in canola oil for 10 days for 8 hr/day. A dual-pan system allowed conducting two separate (control and test) treatments simultaneously. At the end of each day, the control oil was filtered to remove food crumbs, and the test oil was treated with a 1% blend (by wt), developed at our institution, of chemical adsorbents and then filtered with a filtration system developed in our lab. Food and oil samples were collected periodically. Oil samples were analyzed for total polar compounds (TPC), free fatty acids (FFA), color, and FOS readings. Food samples were analyzed for color, texture, and moisture and oil content. The degradation of oil increased with frying, but the test oil showed less degradation. At the end of each day, the treatment of the test oil further reduced the TPC and FFA values, compared to the control oil. At the end of 10 days of frying, compared to the test oil, the control oil had three times the FFA values (1.81 vs 0.58%) and twice the TPC content, color, and FOS values. Food samples fried in the test oil had better color than those in the control oil. Daily treatment of frying oil can potentially double the fry-life of the oil, thus reducing the frequency of discarding the abused oil and at the same time maintaining the quality of the fried product.
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