Use of palm oil for frying in comparison with other high-stability oils

Today, palm oil and its products, mainly palm olein, belong to the most important oils used for the preparation of fried food. The reason is that the oil is relatively cheap, it is available in huge amounts, it has a high oxidative stability and results in high-quality and tasty foods. Thus, the oil meets the demands of the consumer and the producer of fried food. The suitability of palm oil and its products for frying was widely demonstrated in many investigations, and the paper shows some examples for the comparison of palm oil with other commonly used oils. Nevertheless palm oil and its products have a decisive drawback in comparison to conventional vegetable oils like rapeseed or soybean oil, resulting from the high content of saturated fatty acids, which are unfavourable in view of health aspects. Therefore, the search for healthier oils is going on and, in the meantime, several genetically or conventionally modified vegetable oils have appeared on the market. The paper demonstrates that palm oil and its products have a similar frying performance compared to the new so-called "high-oleic" oils.