PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF HEXANE-EXTRACTED OILS FROM GENETICALLY-MODIFIED SOYBEANS

Soybeans produced by induced mutation breeding and hybridization were cracked, flaked and hexane-extracted, and the recovered crude oils wer e processed to finished edible oils by laboratory simulations of comme rcial oil-processing procedures. Three lines yielded oils containing 1 .7, 1.9 and 2.5% linolenic acid. These low-linolenic acid oils were ev aluated along with oil extracted from the cultivar Hardin, grown at th e same time and location, and they were processed at the same time. Th e oil from Hardin contained 6.5% linolenic acid. Low-linolenic acid oi ls showed improved flavor stability in accelerated storage tests after 8 d in the dark at 60 degrees C and after 8 h at 7500 lux at 30 degre es C, conditions generally considered in stress testing. Room odor tes ting indicated that the low linolenic oils showed significantly lower fishy odor after Ih at 190 degrees C and lower acrid/pungent odor afte r 5 h. Potatoes were fried in the oils at 190 degrees C after 5, 10 an d 15 h of use. Overall flavor quality of the potatoes fried in the low -linolenic oils was good and significantly better after all time perio ds than that of potatoes fried in the standard oil. No fishy flavors w ere perceived with potatoes fried in the low-linolenic oils. Total vol atile and polar compound content of all heated oils increased with fry ing hours, with no significant differences observed. After 15 h of fry ing, the free fatty acid content in all oils remained below 0.3%. Lowe ring the linolenic acid content of soybean oil by breeding was particu larly beneficial for improved oil quality during cooking and frying. F lavor quality of fried foods was enhanced with these low-linolenic aci d oils.