When Every Day is Fry-Day

Many companies that use oil to cook their food have to deal with changing the oil at a certain point. If the oil is overused, the quality of the food decreases and if the oil is changed early, then money is wasted on oil. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln are using near-infared spectroscopy to asses the quality of the oil by determining the state of the oil sample within minutes. This process does not involve much waste disposal and is very efficient.

Using a soy-based oil, the researchers needed a comparative factor, so they created a series of oil samples that were progressively degraded. Oil deterioration is measured using two techniques: determining the quantity of polar materials and measuring the number of free fatty-acids. Using these two techniques, the researchers had two parallel sets of data, chemical and spectral, which helped them create a calibration model. This model measures the relationship between the amount of degraded oil products and the amount of absorption by the sample of infared light. When the process was tested, the results were positive for the different oil samples, however, oil is not used alone is cooking so the next step is to test degradation of the oil while mixed with other products.

The follow-up study consisted of the same study with oil used to make french fries, oil used to make tortilla chips, and oil used to make chicken nuggets. The results show that the model for testing oil works regardless of the substance cooked in the oil. This technique is a good method to use because no hazardous chemicals were used and chemical waste disposal is not an issue. The next step for this group is to create a portable hand-held instrument to be used in restaurants and schools. I invite you all to read the article at http://www.chemistry.org/portal/a/c/s/1/feature_ent.html?id=c373e911787bdf4a8f6a17245d830100.