Food Safety Humor

FSPCA - Food Safety Preventive Controls Alliance

Monday, February 19, 2024

Frying Oil - Quality and Safety Considerations

An article in Food Technology magazine, Ensuring Quality and Safety in Fried Foods, provides basic principles for maintaining frying oil quality and ensuring safety. Many types of foods are fried in oil and these frying operations can occur in all sectors of the food supply chain - large food facilities. restaurant and food service establishments, non-profit fund raising operations, and consumer's home fryers. Frying oils are probably not given much thought until we eat something where that oil has become rancid, giving the food a nasty taste. Other issues for food safety include under-processed/undercooked product and product subject to allergen cross contact.
Lipid Oxidation - Oil breakdown / rancidity
Flavor is impacted as frying oil breaks down, and there are also can be issues with gastrointestinal distress. There are health impacts associated with long term exposure to the byproducts of lipid breakdown such as inflammation, cancer, heart disease, etc.
From the article - "In the early 1970s, German regulatory agencies received complaints from consumers about fried food quality, most of which were related to gastrointestinal distress. This prompted scientists in that country to initiate studies into the quality of oil in restaurant frying. Researchers were never able to establish a direct link between abused oil and a health problem, but they did determine that many operators were abusing their oil."

Keeping oil clean and replacing as it deteriorates is key.  Smaller operations must monitor oil and change as needed, often a function of use.
 Filtration systems are utilized in large operations to remove food particles.
"The use of oil treatments or filtration systems is regarded by many as the most important quality principle for maintaining oil quality. Oil must be treated from the very beginning so that breakdown components of the oil, which act as catalysts for further oil degradation, are continuously removed and do not accumulate in the oil. "

Oil should be replaced or refreshed. Monitoring oil quality is key and there are a number of quality measurements that are utilized.
From the article The effect of commercial refining steps on the rancidity measures of soybean and canola oils "Lipid oxidation is an important deteriorative reaction, which has significant implications in terms of the quality and value of fats and oils, specifically in relation to the off-flavours that develop as a result of autoxidation. During the initial stages of the oxidation process, hydroperoxides accumulate as primary oxidation products, subsequently breaking down to form low molecular weight oxygenated constituents, such as alcohols, aldehydes, free fatty acids, and ketones, ultimately leading to rancidity. The accumulation of hydroperoxides is commonly monitored using the measurement of peroxide value (PV). The PV, along with acid value (AV), which is a measure of hydrolytic rancidity, are two of the most frequently determined quality indices during oil production, storage and marketing (Lovaas, 1992). Carbonyl compounds are more stable than hydroperoxides and their measurement is a good index of oxidative changes in lipids (Farhoosh & Moosavi, 2008). Endo, Li, Tagiri-Endo, and Fugimoto (2001) have developed a modified method for estimating total carbonyl compounds (known as carbonyl value, CV) in edible fats and oils. This method has been critically reconsidered in another paper (Farhoosh & Moosavi, 2006).

Other issues pointed out by the Food Technology article:
Incipient spoilage of the food by Staphylococcus aureus. "there is a concern with battered products and the formation of Staphylococcal enterotoxin in the batter if temperatures become too high. Staph toxins are heat stable and could potentially form and survive the frying process"

Undercooking of product....the example provided was that of oil blanched almonds.
"In response to two outbreaks of salmonellosis attributed to consumption of raw almonds in 2001 and 2004, the Almond Board of California (ABC) has established a program to validate the effects of different processing methods on almonds, including frying. "

"Acrylamide (more on this below) is also a concern. This chemical forms in the foods being fried, not in the oil. Since the April 24, 2002, announcement by researchers at the Swedish National Food Administration and Stockholm University that acrylamide can be found in a variety of fried and oven-baked foods, scientists from all over the world have joined hands to look at how this compound forms in foods and determine whether it is truly a risk. The initial Swedish research indicated that acrylamide formation is particularly associated with traditional high-temperature cooking processes for certain carbohydrate-rich foods. Processors and research scientists are looking for ways that will effectively reduce the formation of acrylamides in fried foods."

Allergens - "There is, therefore, a potential that allergens from one food may be transferred to the oil and onto some other item. These concerns were echoed by allergen expert Steve Taylor of the University of Nebraska in 2006 at a short course on deep-fat frying sponsored by IFT. According to Taylor, there have been allergen incidents that have been linked to foodservice frying. These are anecdotal and very few are cited in the literature. Both experts urged that the industry conduct studies to determine what kind of risk such operations do pose and whether there are processes that might minimize risk."

From the Google IA thing
Acrylamide is a chemical that can form in some foods during high-temperature cooking processes, such as frying, roasting, and baking. It arises from sugars and an amino acid called asparagine, which are naturally present in food. Importantly, acrylamide does not come from food packaging or the environment 12.
Here are some key points about acrylamide:
Risk: Acrylamide has been shown to cause cancer in animals when they were exposed to very high doses. In 2010, the Joint Food and Agriculture Organization/World Health Organization Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) concluded that acrylamide is a human health concern and recommended further long-term studies. FDA experts participated in this evaluation and provided data from new research studies on acrylamide risk 1.
Formation: Acrylamide forms during certain types of high-temperature cooking, such as frying, roasting, and baking. Boiling and steaming do not typically lead to acrylamide formation. It is mainly found in foods made from plants, such as potato products, grain products, and coffee. Acrylamide levels are generally higher when cooking is done for longer periods or at higher temperatures 12.
FDA’s Actions: The FDA has been actively researching acrylamide since its discovery in food in 2002. Their efforts include toxicology research, analytical methodology development, food surveys, exposure assessments, and guidance for the industry 1.
In summary, while acrylamide is a concern, it’s essential to be aware of its presence in certain cooked foods and take steps to minimize exposure 13.


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