Palm Oil Developments No.57 (Dec 2012) p14-17

3-Monochloropropane-1, 2-diol (3-MCPD) Esters in Edible Oils and in other Foods: Is There a Need for Concern?

Zaizuhana Shahrim*, Voon Phooi Tee*, Siew Wai Lin* and Kalanithi Nesaretnam*

In today’s global demand for healthy and safe foods, consumers are looking for foods without or with least contaminants. Foods produced from either small farms or large corporations are as much subjected to the same growing consumer demands for healthy, nutritious foods. Convenient foods have led to continuous improvement of existing food processing techniques, all designed to produce safe foods, while maintaining nutritional and sensory qualities. These developments require a more structured approach for the safety evaluation of foods and food ingredients. In the production of edible oils and fats from the crude oils, most oils are refined to remove free fatty acids, peroxides and other oxidative compounds which contribute to the aroma of the oil. These processing techniques have now been found to also result in processed-based contaminants, which are not present in the natural oils. Chloropropanols are groups of chemical contaminants that are formed in certain food ingredients during processing.



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