Quality analysis of virgin coconut oil processed through different methods

Value addition sector in coconut is gaining momentum as a result of spiraling demand for coconut products in internal and international market. Among these, Virgin coconut oil (VCO) is growing in popularity as a functional food supplement, neutraceutical and cosmetic with therapeutic properties and has extremely good prospects for investment. In order to analyze whether there is variation in quality parameters among the different methods of its production, hot extracted virgin coconut oil (HVCO), cold extracted virgin coconut oil (CVCO) and coconut oil (CO) has been analyzed for various quality parameters like moisture and volatile matter, FFa, iodine value, acid value, saponification value, peroxide value, specific gravity, color, refractive index, Vitamin E content, insoluble impurities and test for the presence of mineral and palm oil. Among the physicochemical properties analysed, saponification value, specific gravity and refractive index of the VCO extracted from different methods showed some significant differences, while the acid value, free fatty acid, iodine values did not differ significantly among samples. Moisture and volatile matter, Colour, Peroxide value, Insoluble value, Vitamin E have significant (p<0.0001) effect on VCO extracted through different methods. Attempts were made to select the best quality oil based on the response predicted by the Design – Expert software. Based on optimization of quality parameters recorded and analysed, CVCO i.e., cold extracted virgin coconut oil was selected as the best in quality in comparison to HVCO and CO samples.