Food Frying

11Safety Assessment of Food Frying

11.1 Introduction

Frying fats and oils have been subject to much attention over their health risks. In the early 1970s, the German authorities received several complaints about the quality of fried food served in restaurants, which led to a detailed inspection of the food service industry. This investigation revealed that the quality of the frying medium has a direct impact on the quality of the final fried product. Thus, the German Society for Fat Science (DGF) recommended several regulations for the use of frying oils in restaurants. Later studies revealed several quality parameters that can be used to assess the quality of an oil or fat. These include peroxide value, free fatty acid (FFA) content, anisidine value, iodine value, carbonyl value, colour, and refractive index.

Stier (2001) reviewed some of the important criteria used to assess the quality of frying fats. These are based on the objectives of producing fried foods of high quality and controlling the degradation of oils during frying to achieve maximum economic parameters. The basic criteria were originally obtained from the work of Robertson (1968).

• Proper design, construction, and maintenance of equipment.
• Proper operation of equipment.
• Proper cleaning of equipment.
• Monitoring of chemical indices of oil degradation.
• Minimization of exposure to ultraviolet (UV) light.
• Keeping salt and other sources of metal away from oil.
• Filtering oil regularly.

Once the frying process is initiated, it begins ...