Washing bleached palm oil to reduce monochloropropanediols and glycidyl esters

ABSTRACTThe formation of toxic compounds, potentially carcinogenic, during food processing has been considered an important food safety issue. Among them, particular attention has been given to 3-monochloropropane-1,2-diol esters (3-MCPDE), 2-monochloropropane-1,3-diol esters (2-MCPDE) and glycidyl esters (GE), which can be formed during vegetable oil refining, especially palm oil. These substances may pose a health risk to humans due to their toxicity and carcinogenicity. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of washing bleached palm oil (BPO) with different solvents, and evaluate the reduction of 3-MCPDE, 2-MCPDE and GE as well as assess the quality parameters of the final product. For this purpose, we used two types of washing with different solvents. A single washing was carried out in one step and a double washing in two steps using a solvent gradient. Single washing had a limited reduction in the levels of 3-MCPDE and 2-MCPDE and resulted in an increased level of GE, whereas double was...