Klicia Araujo Sampaio

Characterization of French Coriander Oil as Source of Petroselinic Acid

Coriander vegetable oil was extracted from fruits of French origin in a 23% yield. The oil was of good quality, with a low amount of free fatty acids (1.8%) and a concurrently high amount of triacylglycerols (98%). It is a rich source of petroselinic acid (C18:1n-12), an important renewable building block, making up 73% of all fatty acids, with also significant amounts of linoleic acid (14%), oleic acid (6%), and palmitic acid (3%). The oil was characterized by a high unsaponifiable fraction, comprising a substantial amount of phytosterols (6.70 g/kg). The main sterol markers were β-sitosterol (35% of total sterols), stigmasterol (24%), and Δ7-stigmastenol (18%). Squalene was detected at an amount of 0.2 g/kg. A considerable amount of tocols were identified (500 mg/kg) and consisted mainly of tocotrienols, with γ-tocotrienol as the major compound. The phospholipid content was low at 0.3%, of which the main phospholipid classes were phosphatidic acid (33%), phosphatidylcholine (25%), phosphatidylinositol (17%), and phosphatidylethanolamine (17%). About 50% of all phospholipids were non-hydratable. The β-carotene content was low at 10 mg/kg, while a significant amount of chlorophyll was detected at about 11 mg/kg. An iron content of 1.4 mg/kg was determined through element analysis of the vegetable oil. The influence of fruit origin on the vegetable oil composition was shown to be very important, particularly in terms of the phospholipids, sterols, and tocols composition.

Impact of Crude Oil Quality on the Refining Conditions and Composition of Nutraceuticals in Refined Palm Oil

Palm oil is the major vegetable oil used worldwide due to its unique properties. The effect of crude palm oil acidity on the final free fatty acids (FFA) content, neutral oil loss (NOL), and nutraceutical compounds, such as carotenes, total tocols (tocopherols and tocotrienols), squalene, and phytosterols was investigated. A central composite design was employed to study the influence of the refining conditions: temperature (200 to 260 °C), steam percentage (0.5% to 3.5%), and initial FFA content (2.2% to 6.0%) on the quality of the refined product. The results revealed that initial palm oil acidity is a statistically important parameter to obtain commercially acceptable values for final FFA content. The increase of temperature presented the most important effect on the reduction of all nutraceutical compounds. The highest tocopherols (88%), phytosterols (98%), and squalene retention (84%) was obtained when applying the mildest temperature (200 °C). From the experimental results, 3 equations were generated enabling the prediction of the free fatty acids content, the tocols content, and the losses of neutral oil. Therefore, this work contributes to the understanding and optimization of the process for the production of palm oil with high nutraceutical quality and low free fatty acid contents.

Ésteres de cloropropanóis e de glicidol em alimentos

Chloropropanols are a well-known group of food processing contaminants. They are formed through the reaction between lipids and chlorides when submitted to thermal treatment, and can be found in free and bound form. Although free chloropropanols were identified around 30 years ago, the occurrence of bound forms, especially 3-MCPD, and glycidyl fatty acid esters, has only recently been reported in several food products. Dietary exposure to these ester-bound compounds has been considered a priority food safety issue since free forms can be potentially released through the action of gut lipases, representing a major toxicological concern.

Design of Experiments of Steam Deacidification of Edible Oils for Modeling Validation

Abstract The physical deacidification step must be designed in order to take the high difference in the volatility of undesirable compounds and the neutral oil under high temperatures and vacuum, without causing damage to nutraceutical compounds, excessive production of trans fatty acids and neutral oil loss. Improving the process conditions of this important stage of vegetable oil refining is a relevant topic nowadays. The present study aimed to investigate experimentally the batch steam deacidification of fatty systems with known compositions (two models systems and one vegetable oil), while keeping an accurate measurement and control of the main process variables (temperatures, pressure and mass percentage of injected steam). With this precise information, a validation of a simulation tool developed in the research group was achieved by comparing experimental results with computational ones.