Nutrition, sensory evaluation, and performance analysis of trans fat-free nonhydrogenated frying oils

The American Food and Drug Administration is enforcing the law requiring labeling of trans fats on nutrition labels since January 1, 2006. This law has created a push to reformulate deep-fat frying oils. Prior to this law, frying oils contained trans fats because they gave oils a longer frying life. In this study, oil performance, sensory evaluation and nutritional analysis were conducted on seven trans fat-free and two trans fat oils through a 10-day degradation process using French fries to degrade oil. Sensory ratings of appearance, color, texture and overall liking indicated that fries from blended trans fat-free oils were preferred. The most stable oils were blended oils based on peroxide value, lovibond color and free fatty acid percentage. Based on these findings, industries considering using the trans fat-free frying oils should consider blended oils because of excellent oil stability, lower oil usage and sensory panelists' preference.