Fatty acids profile of edible oils and fats in India

This new lab study on cooking oils by CSE, finds high levels of dangerous trans fats in all samples of vanaspati oil. Expresses concern over delays in setting up of stringent standards and recommends tough enforcement so that companies cannot take us and our food for a ride.

There is a mounting concern about the intake of foods containing trans fatty acids due to their deleterious effects on humans, although monounsaturated fatty acid is the main trans group ingested by most people, the presence of polyunsaturated trans fatty acids in significant levels has also been investigated in foods containing partially hydrogenated fats, fried food and refined oils. The objective of this study was to determine total saturated, unsaturated and trans fatty acids in edible oil and fat samples widely consumed in India. PML tested the refined edible oils, vanaspati, desi ghee and butter samples with a widely and internationally used methodology of Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC) for fatty acids analysis.