Qualitative Assessment of Cooking Oils Used by Street Food Vendors of Lahore, Pakistan

H.  Ayub; M.  Awan; W.  Nazir; A.  Sami; N.  Khalid

doi:10.18502/jfqhc.9.2.10644

H. Ayub Department of Food Science and Technology, School of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Management and Technology, Lahore 54,000, Pakistan
M. Awan Department of Food Science and Technology, School of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Management and Technology, Lahore 54,000, Pakistan
W. Nazir Department of Food Science and Technology, School of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Management and Technology, Lahore 54,000, Pakistan
A. Sami Food Safety Department, Punjab Food Authority, Lahore, Pakistan
N. Khalid Department of Food Science and Technology, School of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Management and Technology, Lahore 54,000, Pakistan

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18502/jfqhc.9.2.10644

Keywords: Oils, Plant Oils, Cooking, Food Quality, Fast Foods, Pakistan

Abstract

Background: Street foods have gained popularity around the world in the past few
decades. The current study was carried out in order to quantitative analysis of used
cooking oils by Street Food Vendors (SFVs) of Lahore, Pakistan.

Methods: Fifty samples of cooking oil used by SFVs were collected. Also, a
questionnaire was designed for qualitative assessment that revealed maximum vendors used vegetable ghee because of its low cost and practiced addition of new oil into the used one instead of disposing it. The samples were also quantified for their Moisture
Content (MC), Free Fatty Acid (FFA), Peroxide Value (PV), Iodine Value (IV), and Total Polar Compounds (TPC). Statistical analysis was performed with SPSS 21.

Results: The survey data indicated poor knowledge regarding the safety and health
aspects of cooking oils among SFVs. Moreover, mean values indicated that most of the samples were unhealthy as they exhibited higher MC (>0.10%), TPC (>25%), PV (>10 meq. O₂/kg), and FFA (>0.20 mg KOH/g); and very low IV (<80 g/100g) in samples.

Conclusion: The analysis revealed that the SFVs of Lahore, Pakistan used low-quality cooking oil. The quantitative assessment of cooking oils showed high values of moisture, FFAs, polar contents, and PVs.