A study on the physicochemical characteristics of popular cooking oils in Cambodia

Abstract

Cooking oils tend to deteriorate in quality through oxidation reactions and microbial degradation, causing nutritional loss, consumer unacceptability, health risks such as cancer and inflammation. This study aims to assess the quality of five popular cooking oils sold in Cambodia, including two sunflower oils, two soybean oils, and a refined palm olein cooking oil. All the samples were collected from supermarkets in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The peroxide value (PV), acid value (AV), and anisidine value (AnV) of the cooking oils ranged from 1.93 to 5.68 meq O2/kg oil, 0.11 to 0.26 mg KOH/g, and 28.71 to 62.49, respectively. The iodine value (IV) of soybean oil, sunflower oil, and refined palm olein oil is 121.53 to 125.91 g I2/100g, 127.39 to 128.89 g I2/100g, and 68.61 g I2/100g, respectively. The colour of the oils was presented as L, a, and b∗, which ranged from 32.64 to 34.42, -1.48 to -0.34, and 1.50 to 5.25, respectively. The PV and AV of the cooking oils are within the acceptable range of the FAO's Codex Alimentarius Standards which is 10 meq O2/kg and 0.6 mg KOH/g, respectively. According to the research findings, the popular cooking oils sold in Cambodia are in good quality for consumption.