Quality of Lipid Fractions in Deep-Fried Foods from Street Vendors in Chile

Abstract

Deep-fried foods sold by unlicensed street vendors are a health concern for various reasons, but oil quality is particularly important considering known links between fat consumption and cardiovascular disease. To diagnose the exact gravity of this situation in Chile, a country where street vendors are proliferate, the physicochemical parameters of fat fractions from fried food samples were assessed. Fat quality was assessed through the acidity index, peroxide index, extinction coefficient, TOTOX index, polar compounds percentage, and fatty acid profile. Most food samples (80%) had at least a 10% fat content. Many samples also had high peroxide values (1.7–103.3 meqO2/kg) and extinction coefficients (K232 and K270), findings indicative of advanced oil deterioration. These results were supported by values for para-anisidine (100.2–311.0), TOTOX (>103.6), and polar compounds (14.2–49.7%). All assessed food samples contained saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated fatty acids, as well as trans-fatty acids (0.6–1.7%). According to national regulations on polar compounds, 50% of the assessed food samples are unfit for human consumption. When applying national limits for C18, all food samples should be discarded. These findings stress the urgent need to strictly control deep-fried foods sold by street vendors.