Studies on physicochemical properties of various edible oils their detection methods and quantifying the adulterants
A basic human diet surely consists of edible oils. They are considered as a source of high energy due to the presence of fatty acids like linoleic and linolenic acids. Edible oils are used in multiple places in the food industry such as – frying of edibles, cooking on a pan, making of salad dressing/mayonnaise, preservation purpose, packed food industry, etc. We all use different types of market oil and as a key part of our diet we should examine the quality of these oils. The physiochemical characteristics of oils include acid value (mg KOH/ gm oil), saponification value (mg /gm of oil) , iodine value (gm I2 / 100 gm oil) and peroxide value (mmol /kg oil). This report shows the comparison between the experimental data of the properties of different oils such as Peanut, Almond, Sesame, Coconut, Sunflower oil brought from market and extracted naturally from machines. Due to its crucial importance in our day-to-day life, it has been easily prone to various kind of adulterants. The prime cause of the adulteration is the plain price variations and economic gain. Adulterants like Argemone oil, rice bran oil, palm oil, linseed oil etc., are frequently used to adulterate the edible oils. In the current paper simple, rapid and reliable color test such as Improved nitric acid, Azo dye test, Baudouin test, Halpen’s test and Solvent separation techniques have been stated for detection of different adulterants.
Keywords: saponification value, iodine value, peroxide value, improved nitric acid, Baudouin test, Halpen’s test