How to Check the Quality of Cooking Oil?

It seems almost impossible to cook without oil. Oil is an essential ingredient for frying and adding flavour into the food. A daily thing like oil in our diet should be pure and healthy. The proper amount of healthy oil in our food is a root of acquiring essential fatty acids and vitamins in our body but consumption of unhealthy oil can take its toll on your health. It is necessary to check the quality of cooking oil before applying it into your recipe. There are different effective methods of how to check the quality of cooking oil.

How to Check the Quality of Cooking Oil:-

Though there is no officially acclaimed process for examining the quality of cooking oil, FFA content, peroxide value (PV), and p-anisidine value (AV) are generally used in industry to test the edible oil quality.

Free Fatty Acid Measurement:-

Hydrolysis of oil creates Free Fatty Acids in them. Raw oils and fats in their natural form contain a small amount of free fatty acids but they are removed while refining the oil. FFA should not be present in edible oils as oils with high FFA content decrease oxidative stability of the product and increase acidity which results in off-flavour formation. Chemical analysis kits and several automated hand-held instruments are also used to FFA concentrations in oils. FFA measurement colour strips react to the presence of fatty acids in the tested oil. When they are dipped in the oil, the colours will be visible on the strip, which is then compared to the given colour reference chart to define FFA levels. Standard test strips are made for the measurement of free fatty acid levels from 2% – 7%, with 5.5%-7% as the discard range.

Peroxide Value Measurement:-

Peroxide Value is an index used for the measurement of the number of hydroperoxides which are toxic to the human body. They are primary oil oxidation elements which are created during the basic stages of oxidation. Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) and Near-Infrared (FT-NIR) Spectroscopy methods are used for PV measurement with the benefits of analytical speed and automation. The devices used for this purpose are quite expensive and requires a large amount of labour.

Oil Colour Measurement Kit:-

The colour of crude and refined oils is a significant factor to define their market value. In the oil colour measurement kits, oil colour samples are provided in pre-filled sample bottles that show oil colours that are about to expire(these differ depending upon products being fried). With an eyedropper, an oil sample is taken from the vat and matched against the given guide colours.

Acid Value:-

Another important factor in oil quality measurement is – Acid Value. Acid Value is shown as the amount of potassium hydroxide (KOH in milligrams) essential to neutralise free fatty acids existing in 1g of oil.

TPM Method:

These devices define the quality of cooking oils by measuring the total polar materials (TPM), or non-triglycerides, depending on changes in the dielectric constant, which is measured between two capacitive plates. A TPM reading >25% is regarded as the discard point in many European countries, although the threshold is based upon local regulation. Handheld and integrated TPM measurement devices are presently available in markets. Though it also depends on the oil company how they check the quality of cooking oil but these above procedures are usually used to obtain standard quality cooking oil. Hilal Oil Ltd. is a West Bengal based company, hat produces several types of edible and vegetable oils such as Rice Bran Oil, Mustard Oil, Soybean Oil and Sesame Oil (Til or Gingelly). We started our journey in 1988 and within a brief span of time, we have built ourselves as a leading brand of edible oils in the eastern part of the country. The industry is situated at Sitaldihi in Jhargram with its head office in Kolkata. The best and healthy vegetable oil for cooking is extracted, blended, refined and packaged with great effort and attention in this industry. We have been certified by ISO 9001-2000 which ensures the quality of our products. Kmp has also been rewarded by “GLOBE OIL INDIA” as an emerging company for 2007 for our incredible performance in the oil industry. Our plant has facilities of CPO refining deodorization and hydrogenation of oil which helps to maintain the freshness of the manufactured oil. The certifications and consistency of the company justify our products as healthy and trustable. The affordable price of the products has also made us easily purchasable for most of the customers. Our company Hilal Oil Ltd. had produced several types of edible oils such as Rice Bran, Mustard oil, Soyabean Oil, Sesame Oil, Vanaspati etc. We strictly follow the benchmark during the whole process from the refining of crude oil to the packaging of the final product.