The American Chemistry Society recently took a look at the chemistry of olive oil in a recent episode of its YouTube show, Reactions.
The debate about whether olive oil is healthy continues, but there is a lot of chemistry that goes on to produce a bottle.
While “Olive Oil is Awesome,’ there are factors that impact the quality and shelf-life of a bottle of edible oil. Teledyne Leeman Labs tackled the challenge of determining trace elements in edible oils using ICP-OES in a recent study using its Prodigy 7 ICP configured for radial viewing.
“Oils contain unsaturated fatty acids and relatively high levels of phospholipids, which can react with oxygen to produce unpleasant flavors and odors in the oil. The presence of trace concentrations of metals such as Ca, Cu, Fe, Mg and Ni promote oxidation and can significantly reduce shelf life. Vegetable oils are very high in phosphorus, calcium and magnesium as well as traces of iron. As the oil is refined, the levels of these metals are continuously reduced to improve the final product’s flavor, color and stability.”
To ensure quality control throughout the refining process, accurate trace metal analysis is required.
To review the results of the trace metal analysis study, download Application Note - AN1503.
