Undesirable substances in vegetable oils: anything to declare?

Abstract

The presence of undesirable compounds in vegetable and animal oils and fats may have many different origins. Although the potential toxicity of most of these undesirable compounds is real, poisoning risks are rather limited due to the efficient elimination during oil-refining steps, careful conditioning, choice of efficient packaging and industrial quality control management. However the research of contaminants is part of multiple controls conducted by fat and oil industry to verify the conformity of products placed on the market in relation to regulations such as the European commission regulation EC No. 1881/2006 setting maximum levels for some contaminants in food as lead, some mycotoxins, dioxins, polychlorobiphenyls, benzo(a)pyrene. In the absence of regulation, the detection of contaminants must be addressed in partnership with authorities according to the toxicity of molecules. The controls are not confined to environmental contaminants. They also include compounds that can be formed during the production process of vegetable oils such as esters of 3-monochloropropanediol. This article focuses more particularly on heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, mineral oils, phthalates and 3-MCPD or glycidyl esters. Aspects such as methods for analysis, limits fixed by EC regulation and occurrence in vegetable oils are discussed.