Determining Free Fatty Acids of Lab-made Virgin Coconut Oil Using Chilling Thawing Treatment, Commercial Virgin Coconut Oil, and Commercial Palm Kernel Oil

Abstract

The objective was to compare the FFA values of lab-made VCO to commercial PKO and commercial VCO, compare the quality of the lab-made VCO with commercial, and investigate the potential effect of substitution of PKO with VCO. Chocolate spreads that are commonly available in the market usually use palm oil as the liquid fraction. Therefore, for this semester, the focus of this research is on the oils before incorporation into the chocolate spread. In the next semester, the chocolate spread will be examined for similar parameters. Currently, the samples are going to be evaluated by determining the free fatty acids (FFA). The free fatty acid is the analysis that is mostly found in edible oils throughout the processes of making and storing the oil as well as, more generally, during the handling of the raw material. FFA is also produced by lipid deterioration mechanisms. The commercial and lab-made VCO will then be compared to the lab-made samples and compared to Asian and Pacific Coconut Community (APCC) standards to compare the quality of our lab-made VCO to the standard and reference samples. Based on this research, the free fatty acid content of lab-made VCO (0.0339) vs commercial VCO (0.0133) and lab-made VCO vs commercial PKO (2.631) are significantly different. The lab-made and commercial VCO samples were aligned with the standard. Moreover, the VCO samples have lower FFA content compared to PKO which makes the VCO less likely to turn rancid, off-odors, and off-flavor. Several physicochemical analyses need to be done to further evaluate the oil samples which are iodine value (IV), peroxide value (PV), and lauric acid content which are other important parameters to measure the quality of the VCO according to the APCC standards.