Evaluation of commercially available rapid test kits for the determination of oil quality in deep-frying operations

It is a challenging task to rapidly determine the quality of frying oils at various stages of frying. This study aims to evaluate the performance of eight different rapid test kits on three different types of oils, viz palm olein, cooking oil (a blend of palm olein, sesame oil and peanut oil) and sunflower oil. Two commonly consumed foods, French fries and chicken nuggets were selected as the frying food materials. Out of the eight test kits, five of them, namely FASafe™, 3M™ Low Range Shortening Monitor, Fritest®, Oxifrit-Test® and TPM Veri-Fry® were based on colorimetric reactions; whereas the other three test kits, namely Food Oil Monitor 310, Testo 265 and CapSens 5000 were based on dielectric constant. It was found that the test kits based on physical parameter provided more objective and valuable results as compared to those based on colorimetric reactions.