Application of Chromatographic Techniques in the Detection and Identification of Constituents Formed during Food Frying: A Review

Abstract

AbstractFrying is one of the most popular food processing methods. However, many physicochemical reactions occur during frying, forming complex products in both the frying oil and the fried food. Chromatographic techniques have been successfully applied to characterize the products formed during food‐frying or during a simulated frying process. In this review, the specific products analyzed by gas chromatography (GC) and high‐performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) are elucidated in detail. The most studied components are polar compounds (such as volatile compounds, hydrolysis products, oxidized triacylglycerol [TAG] decomposition products, oxidized TAG monomers, sterol oxides, oxygenated TAG polymers, and acrylamide) and nonpolar compounds (such as cyclic fatty acid monomers and trans isomers), which are classified based on their polarity. However, the definite structures of TAG polymers and sterol oxides, and polymers analyzed by GC or HPLC‐based methods are only investigated in modeled reactions. Furthermore, some of the sample pretreatments and chromatographic methods are only used to analyze the known products. A number of earlier trace amounts of undetected products need to be investigated by more effective detection techniques. The development of multidimensional chromatographic techniques and elaborate mass spectrometry detectors makes composition analysis possible for the food‐frying process, which may effectively promote the development of quality monitoring and nutrition evaluation for the fried foods.