Polymeric and oxidized triglyceride content of crude and refined vegetable oils — An overview

Abstract

Abstract High‐pressure size‐exclusion chromatography (HPSEC) was used in combination with column chromatography on silica to determine the polymeric and oxidized triglyceride content of 19 refined vegetable oil samples of different origin (corn, sun, soy, peanut, rapeseed, palm and olive oil). The evolution of these compounds during the labscale physical refining of corn oil was also studied. Dimeric and oxidized triglyceride levels of the refined oils ranged between 0.32–2.01% (mean = 1.07%) and 1.53–4.83% (mean = 3.11%), respectively. A major increase of polymeric triglycerides was observed during the deacidification‐deodorization step, while the oxidized triglycerides increased mainly during bleaching. Further studies to determine the exact influence of refining conditions on the formation of polymeric and oxidized triglycerides are necessary.