Determination of Erucic Acid Content in Traditional and Commercial Mustard Oils of Bangladesh by Gas- Liquid Chromatography

Abstract

The modern trend of consuming mustard oil in raw, fried and cooked forms is increasing day by day in the general people irrespective of economic status in Bangladesh. But unfortunately they are not aware of the adverse effects of this oil. Because, mustard oils have been evidenced to have high level of erucic acid and erucic acid has been evidenced to be a causative agent for cardiovascular diseases. It is therefore very important to know the erucic acid level both in traditional and commercially available mustard oils in Bangladesh. The aim of the study was to investigate the fatty acid profile of the commercial mustard oil (Industrially manufactured) and ghani (traditional method of oil processing) mustard oil. After preparation of the purified fatty acid methyl esters of the above oils, Gas-Liquid Chromatographic (GLC) analysis was carried out. Results showed that the percentage of erucic acid (22:1) in the commercial and ghani mustard oils were 41.80% and 51.98% respectively. In context to percentage of erucic acid, the commercial mustard oil seemed better compared to ghani. The reasons behind this discrepancy still remains unclear but the possibility of mixed oil effects in the commercial mustard oil could be investigated in the near future. The author also established a method to partially eliminate erucic acid from mustard oil. After partially eliminate erucic acid from commercial mustard oil erucic acid reduces from 41.80% to 20.14%.