| Abstract: | A survey was conducted in Lilongwe city urban markets in Malawi, to assess the quality of cooking oil used for frying potato chips. Purposive sampling was performed to come up with respondents who were using vegetable oils. A stratified random sampling was used to select the 32 informal food processors who were interviewed using a structured questionnaire. Oil samples were collected from the most commonly used brand of oil. Fifteen respondents were selected and these were divided into three categories of five: those who were not reusing the oil, those who were reusing the oil and those who were preparing potato chips and chicken in the same oil, for chemical analysis. The preliminary results showed that while the majority (59.4%) of the informal food processors discarded the oil after 1 day, 3.1% discarded it after 4 days and another 12.5% after 3 days. A larger proportion of the respondents (40.6%) used the leftover oils at home, 37.5% kept it in oil bottles, 3.1% kept it in plastic papers for reuse the following day. Also, most respondents (57%) indicated dark colour as the sign of oil deterioration, 29% discarded the oil after noticing foam formation while 8.2% and 6.1% said they discarded the oil after noticing a bad smell and food absorbing the oils respectively. A physical observation of the various oils showed that for most of the respondents (34%), the oils were dark brown in colour, in 22%, the oils were slightly dark brown and 16%, the oils were brown. Foam formation was noticed in 13% of the respondents. It was also noted that 91% of the respondents had not been trained or briefed of food quality and safety issues. A chemical analysis of the oils showed high values of free fatty acids (range, 0.84–1.4112 compared with 0.42 in the fresh oil) and peroxide values (range 14.7–16.6 compared with 9.0 in the fresh oil). It may be concluded that the oils being used by the informal food processors in Malawi are of poor quality and so the foods cooked in them may be a health hazard to the consumers and the processors themselves. Although this work in ongoing, it may be recommended at the outset that the health department of the city assemblies should inspect these oils for the good health of the consumers. |
