PROFILE OF THE POSITIONAL DISTRIBUTION OF FATTY ACIDS IN THE TRIACYLGLYCEROLS AS AN INDEX OF QUALITY FOR PALM OIL (OR ANY OIL OR FAT)

摘要

There is a need for a modern method to characterize edible oils and fats. The traditional method is to measure the iodine value (IV), which is an enometric constant that specifies the amount of molecular iodine absorbed by 100 g of the oil/fat. This parameter indicates the degree of unsaturation of the total amount of acylglycerol molecules (mono-, di- and tri-acylglycerols) and free fatty acids present in the oil/fat. Its determination is according to an official method of the American Oil Chemists' Society. The IV is conventionally used as a quality parameter in the palm oil industry. As an index for characterization the IV has obvious shortcomings or inadequacies, including: (1) a polyunsaturated fatty acid with two or more double bonds contributing proportionately more than a monounsaturated, resulting in an inflated value which does not reflect the number of fatty acid chains; (2) no indication of the presence of saturated fatty acids; (3) not a true measure of the contribution from Iriacylglycerols if mono- and di-acylglycerols and free fatty acids are present.