Determination of changes occurrence in chemical properties of antioxidant incorporated palm olein during deep-fat frying

Deep fat frying, refers to the process of cooking food by immersing it in hot oil (150 0C-190 0C), leads to various chemical changes in an edible oil including oxidation, polymerization and hydrolysis. In this study, dietary antioxidant sources such as garlic, cinnamon and black cumin were introduced to palm olein to monitor the changes in chemical properties during deep-frying. They were added to oil at a rate of 2% w/v and cassava chips were subjected for three consecutive frying cycles. Samples were drawn after each frying cycle and peroxide value, free fatty acid value, conjugated diene and triene content were measured. Results revealed that the addition of dietary antioxidant sources to palm olein before frying reduces the formation of peroxides, free fatty acids, conjugated dienes and conjugated trienes against the control and garlic has the highest potential to be used as a dietary antioxidant reducing the respective values significantly (p<0.05).