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Title: POTATO CHIP QUALITY AND FRYING OIL STABILITY OF HIGH OLEIC ACID SOYBEAN OIL

Author
item Warner, Kathleen
item GUPTA, MONOJ - MG EDIBLE OIL INT'L

Submitted to: Journal of Food Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/19/2004
Publication Date: 1/24/2005
Citation: Warner, K.A., Gupta, M. 2005. Potato chip quality and frying oil stability of high oleic acid soybean oil. Journal of Food Science. 70(6):395-400.

Interpretive Summary: Commodity vegetable oils such as soybean, sunflower, and canola need additional processing and/or chemical additives to have the stability needed for frying, a U.S. industry that uses approximately 8 billion pounds of oil each year. Soybean oil has had its fatty acid composition modified by traditional plant breeding to decrease the amount of the fatty acid, linolenic acid in order to improve frying stability. In additional efforts to improve soybean oil stability, a new oil was commercially developed to have both low linolenic acid (2%) and high oleic acid (85%). In this study, the frying stability of high oleic/low linolenic acid soybean oil was indeed improved compared to cottonseed oil and low linolenic acid soybean oil. However, the flavor quality of potato chips fried in the high oleic/low linolenic soybean oil was not as good as that of potato chips fried in low linolenic acid soybean oil. Very high levels of oleic acid such as the 85% used in this oil do not produce the desirable deep fried flavor wanted in fried food. Results of this research will guide both plant breeders and users of vegetable frying oils in the production of oils with optimum fatty acid composition to achieve a balance between flavor quality and oxidative stability of oils and fried foods.

Technical Abstract: High oleic soybean (HOSBO) and low linolenic acid soybean (LLSBO) oils were evaluated individually and in a 1:1 blend in frying tests to determine frying oil stabilities and flavor quality and stability of potato chips. The oils were tested in comparison with cottonseed oil (CSO). Potato chips were fried in the oils for a total of 25 hr of oil use. Potato chips and oils were sampled periodically for sensory, gas chromatographic volatile, and chemical analyses. HOSBO had significantly lower levels of total polar compounds than LLSBO, CSO or the blend. The percent of total polar compounds levels decreased with decreasing amounts of oleic acid. Flavor evaluations of fresh and aged (1, 3, 5 and 7 wk at 25 deg. C) potato chips showed some differences between potato chips fried in different oil types. Sensory panel judges reported that potato chips fried in LLSBO in the blend had significantly higher levels of deep fried flavor than the potato chips fried in HOSBO. Potato chips fried in HOSBO which had 2% linolenic acid and 1.3% linoleic acid had significantly higher amounts of fishy flavor than the potato chips fried in the other oils in several of the comparisons. The decrease in linoleic acid to levels lower than the amount of linolenic acid probably allowed for the fishy flavors from the HOSBO to become more apparent than if the linoleic acid level was higher. Hexanal was significantly higher in the potato chips fried in the other oils indicating less oxidative stability during shelf life tests of the fried food. Blending HOSBO with LLSBO in a 1:1 ratio provided both good quality and oxidative stability to the potato chip samples.