Determining the Reuse of Frying Oil for Fried Sweet and Sour Pork according to Type of Oil and Frying Time

Food Codex regulations have set freshness limits for oils used to fry food, such as potato and fish products, and fried food itself; however, no such freshness limits have been set for meat products, such as sweet and sour pork. The freshness standard suggest that acid values (AVs) and peroxide values (POVs) for frying oil should be less than 2.5 and 50, respectively, whereas AVs and POVs for common fried food should be less than 5.0 and 60, respectively. Therefore, in this study, we investigate the effect of the number of frying cycles on oxidation-promoted changes in the oils used to fry sweet and sour pork and fried food itself during repeated frying over 10 d by determining their AVs and POVs, which were found to be highly correlated. Soybean, canola, palm, and pork lard oils could be reused approximately 37, 32, 58, and 87 times, respectively, to fry sweet and sour pork based on oil freshness, and 78, 78, 81, and 286 times, respectively, based on the freshness of fried food. Our data may help establish food-quality regulations for oils used to fry animal-based foods.