Chemical Properties of Unbranded Vegetable Oils Sourced From Five Different Markets in Benin City, Edo-State, Nigeria

Abstract

Due to higher market prices for branded vegetable oils (BVO), many consumers are compelled to make do with unbranded vegetable oils (UVO) without any details about the manufacturers or where such oils are sourced. This has raised public health concern over suitability of UVO for consumption purposes. This study was carried out to investigates the quality index of UVO sourced from five different markets in Benin City against king's vegetable oil (BVO). Three chemical properties of acid value (AV), iodine value (IV) and saponification (SV) were determined.  AV for both BVO and UVO were outside the 0.6mgKOH/g stipulated by CODEX STAN 210. No significant difference (p <0.05) was observed in the IV for both UVO and BVO.  However, UVO sourced from New Benin had the highest IV of 104.48±7.93(I₂/100g) while the BVO yielded the least IV value of 97.760±3.6.69(I₂/100g). SV was highest in UVO sourced from Oba market 295.3±29.44 (mg KOH/g) while the BVO with a yield of 129.8±45.30(mg KOH/g) gave least SV.  The three chemical properties of AV, IV and SV for UVO from the different markets where not too far in values when compared with BVO. However, more studies on more chemical parameters and physical properties of UVO in these markets must be carried out to douse fear over consumption of UVO sourced from these markets