Investigation of the Source of "Smelly" Odors Emitted by Extreme Heating of MCT Oil

Guy Ben-Zvi, Omega3Galil, Shchenia, Israel (guy@omega3galil.com)
Alisa Dunkel, Omega3galil, Shchenia, Israel
Michael Zviely, Cic, Haifa, Israel
Aviv Kaplan, The Hydrochemistry Laboratory, Tel-aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
Olivia Nordland, The Hydrochemistry Laboratory, Tel-aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
Igal Gozlan, The Hydrochemistry Laboratory, Tel-aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
Dror Avisar, The Hydrochemistry Laboratory, Tel-aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel 

MCT oil is a triglyceride consisting of ~99.5% saturated fat with 60% C8 and 40% C10 capric acid. It is very low viscosity (~20cp) water clear with no taste or smell. The absence of double bonds in the carbon chain make is extremely resistant to peroxidation when exposed to oxygen humidity, heat and light. This makes it very suitable for cooking and frying, similar to saturated animal fats at high temperature exposures of up to 30 minutes as in domestic frying and cooking. However in industrial frying of very long exposures of several hours to elevated temperatures (150-170c) even the fully saturated MCT degrades and emits smelly odors.

Special food grade antioxidants were developed and added to MCT in order to stabilize and prolong its service life to >20 hours at frying temperatures of 165c.

This study examined the formation of degradation products (DPs), emitted by MCT stabilized with antioxidants (Brand O'Fry^TM) and unstabilized (Brand Ketoil^TM)

An experiment was carried out in controlled lab conditions, which emulated real frying conditions with MCT oil samples with and without antioxidants. The results of the odor tests indicated a clear difference between the samples with and without antioxidants. Two different GCMS injection techniques, liquid and headspace, were used to detect the MCT-DPs in “smelly” samples compare to “non-smelly” samples. Furthermore, the volatile and semi-volatile molecules, which were detected only in the “smelly” samples, were identified according their EI/MS spectra and were characterized according their odor properties and their contribution to the smelly non stabilized samples.

 

Short Biography of Presenting Author

Guy Ben-Zvi

Founder and CEO of Omega 3 Galilee- the home of healthy fats in Israel.

Previously a Major in the Israeli air force, served as a pilot for 25 years in regular service and reserves.

Served as VP R&D and CTO in plastics, lasers and semiconductor companies.

Has an Executive MBA from Kellogg's Northwestern.

In recent years he is developing healthy fat based products such as oxidation resistant frying oils which extend the shelf life of processed foods and a novel taste enhancing fat technology called O'Taste.