Quality assessment of palm oil sold in major markets in Abia State, Nigeria

Abstract

This paper examines the quality of palm oil samples obtained from different locations in Abia State, Nigeria in terms of their physicochemical properties. The results obtained showed that the saponification value (SV) ranged from 129.04 – 198.03KOH/g of oil. The free fatty acid (FFA) of the palm oil samples ranged from 2.73 – 2.89mgKOH/g of oil, peroxide value (PV) 7.90 – 8.80meq/kg and the iodine value (IV) 52.61 – 53.48 Wiji’s. The moisture content was in the range of 0.14-0.16% while the carotene content ranged from 1082 – 1458mg/kg. The results obtained after the analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that there were no significant differences (P>0.05) in the specific gravity, smoke, flash and fire points, moisture content, saponification value, peroxide value and free fatty acid values of the palm oil samples. However, there were significant differences (P<0.05) in the melting point and carotene content of the palm oil samples respectively