Studies on storage stability of hot extracted (HEVCO) and cold extracted virgin coconut oil (CEVCO) in different flexible and rigid packaging system

The storage stability of virgin coconut oil was found to be one year in different flexible [linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE), low density polyethylene (LDPE), Metallised polyester (MET)] and rigid packaging material [polyethylene tetra phthalate (PET) bottle, high density polyethylene (HDPE) and amber high density polyethylene (AHDPE)] at room temperature (15-35˚C) and 37°C. Peroxide value (PV), free fatty acid (FFA), thiobarbituric acid (TBA), total carbonyl (TC) and anisidine value (AV) was increased during storage period. There was no significant (p ≤ 0.05) increase in refractive index (RI) and moisture content observed in VCO samples at both types of packaging system. The study concluded that packaging system, storage time and temperature all have significant effect on the stability of hot and cold extracted virgin coconut oil.