Evaluation of carotene content and antibacterial effect of microwave heated and conventionally heated red palm oil

This study was carried out to evaluate carotene content and antibacterial effect of microwave heated and conventionally heated red palm oil. The carotene content and antibacterial properties were determined by using spectrophotometry and disc diffusion methods respectively. Results showed that both microwave and conventional heating significantly (p<;0.05) decreased carotene content in red palm oil. Microwave heated red palm oil retained higher carotene content as compared to conventionally heated red palm oil. Meanwhile, fresh and heated red palm oil did not exhibit inhibitory effect on Escherichia coli growth. We conclude that, microwave heating offers an advantage over conventional heating in retaining higher carotene content and red palm oil is not effective against bacterial growth.