COMPOSITION AND QUALITY OF DEEP-FAT FRYING OIL FROM FAST-FOOD OUTLETSIN VICTORIA

A 1994 investigation of deep-fat frying oil used in fast food outlets in Melbourne and Geelong showed thar 84% of retail outlets were using oils based on palm oil and/or tallow. Low levels of trans fatty acids were found, consistent with the levels present in tallow. Another surv ey conducted in 1996 showed that 10 out of 98 oil samples analysed con tained levels of polar components or polymerised triglycerides which m ay be considered unfit for human consumption. However, since only two samples exceeded the limits by a significant margin, oil quality does not appear to be a major problem in the fast food industry in the Melb ourne metropolitan area. For this reason the authors do not recommend the establishment of a regulatory standard for frying oils in Australi a. Polymerised triglyceride results correlated highly with those for p olar components (r = 0.82) in the 1996 survey. Acid value correlated p oorly with polar components (r = 0.55) and polymerised triglycerides ( r = 0.12).