ROTKREUZ, SWITZERLAND — Adding a natural, citric acid-based antioxidant, EPT-OILShield, to soybean oil improved the frying stability compared to a soybean oil control, according to the results of a study that appeared on-line in the Journal of Food Science.

Soybean oil with 0.05% and 0.5% EPT-OILShield and an untreated control soybean oil were used for intermittent batch frying of tortilla chips at 180 degrees Celsius (356 degrees Fahrenheit) for up to 65 hours. The chips then were aged for up to four months at 25 degrees C (77 degrees F).

The oil with 0.05% EPT-OILShield had significantly less free fatty acids and total polar compounds than the control soybean oil. Gamma tocopherol levels were significantly higher in the chips fried with 0.05% EPT-OILShield than in the control oil, which helped to inhibit oxidation in the tortilla chips during storage.

A 15-member, trained analytical sensory panel also described the chips fried with 0.05% EPT-OILShield as only slightly rancid after four months. Tortilla chips fried in the control oil were rancid after two months.

Rotkreuz-based Elvisem AG, which has a U.S. office in Orange Beach, Ala., offers EPT-OILShield. Authors of the study were Marta Gehring, who works in product development for Elvisem AG, and Kathleen Warner, who works at the National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research based in Peoria, Ill., and part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service.