Impact of nitrogen flushing and oil choice on the progression of lipid oxidation in unwashed fried sliced potato crisps

Unwashed, sliced, batch-fried potato crisps have a unique texture and are growing in popularity in the UK/EU premium snack food market. In this study, the storage stability of unwashed sliced (high surface starch) potatoes (crisps) fried in regular sunflower oil (SO) or in high oleic sunflower oil (HOSO) was compared over accelerated shelf life testing (45 °C, 6 weeks); with and without nitrogen gas flushing. Primary oxidation products (lipid hydroperoxides) were measured with a ferrous oxidation-xylenol orange (FOX) assay and volatile secondary oxidation products (hexanal) were quantified by using solid phase micro-extraction gas chromatography mass spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC/MS). Results revealed that crisps fried in SO were the least stable. Flushing the stored crisps with nitrogen gas proved to be effective in slowing down the oxidation rate after frying with sunflower oil, significantly stabilizing the crisps. However, crisps fried in HOSO were the most stable, with the lowest rate of development of oxidation markers, and this has previously not been shown for crisps with a high free starch content.