Carbonyl compounds vaporize from oil with steam during deep-frying.

Used frying oil recovered from food manufacturing companies in Japan and recycled often shows lower carbonyl (COV) and peroxide values (POV) than oil simply heated at 180 degrees C for 20 h does. In this study the reasons for the low COV of oil used for deep-frying were investigated by employing model experiments and actual commercial frying. The results suggested that in actual frying, the factor most influencing the low COV was vaporization of carbonyl compounds, together with steam generated from water contained in frying foodstuffs. It was also suggested that the low levels of COV were attributable partly to inhibition by protein, amino acids exuded from frying foodstuffs, and starch, and slightly to the effects of natural antioxidants in fresh oil and frying foodstuffs, oil absorption by frying foodstuffs, and dilution of oil in use by fresh oil added between uses. On the other hand, the chemical properties of oil in a fryer and in batter coatings of deep-fried foods made with the former oil were checked. Content of polar compounds (PC) and color score were obviously worse in the oil extracted from batter coatings than in that in the fryer, but there were no differences in COV or content of triacylglycerol (TG) of the two oils.