Iron accumulation in oil during the deep-fat frying of meat

Iron accumulation in oil is a potential problem when frying food containing substantial amounts of iron. Selected meat products (skinless chicken breast, beef liver, and lean beef) were ground and fried (ca. 2-cm spheres, ca. 10 g/sphere) in partially hydrogenated soybean oil (PHSBO). Samples (450 g) of ground meat were fried 3 times/h for 8 h/d for 3 d. Oil samples were collected for analysis for iron (every 8 h) and oil degradation (every 4 h) and replaced with fresh oil. The iron contents of oil samples after 3 d of frying were approximately 0.11, 0.48, and 4.01 mg of iron/kg of PHSBO for the oil used to fry chicken, beef, and liver, respectively. There was a notable darkening in color and an increased tendency to foam for the beef liver oil sample compared with the other samples. After frying, the acid values were 0.9, 1.1, and 1.4 for the oil samples for chicken, beef, and liver, respectively. After frying, the p-anisidine values were 11.5, 12.8, and 32.6 for the oil samples for chicken, beef, and liver, respectively; the food oil sensor values were 0.96, 0.96, and 0.83 for the oil samples for chicken, beef, and liver, respectively.