Occurrence of 3-MCPD and glycidyl esters during potato chip production: effect of oil type, frying count and chlorine based textural enhancer usage

In this study, potato chips were produced in a laboratory-scale with identical production flowsheet to the chips industry to investigate the effect of vegetable oil type and calcium chloride (CaCl2) content of blanching water on the formation of glycidyl esters (GE) and bound 3-MCPD during potato chip production. Various amounts of CaCl2 (0%, 1%, and 2%) were used as blanching agent to enhance the textural properties as used in industry. Potato chips were fried using refined sunflower oil, refined canola oil, and refined palm olein in a small-scale industrial fryer. GE contents were 4.2 mg/kg, 5.78 mg/kg and 5.78 mg/kg and bound 3-MCPD contents were 1.2 mg/kg, 2.2 mg/kg and 3.0 mg/kg for potato chips fried in sunflower oil, canola oil, and palm olein, respectively. Also, the bound 3-MCPD content of the final product was increased as the amount of CaCl2 in blanching water was increased. In general, bound 3-MCPD contents were increased gradually as the frying counts increased with the same batch of frying oil whereas GE contents fluctuated.