Guanajuato, Gto., March 13, 2017.- According the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI), there are around 3,700 formal businesses in the fried food sector. However, some of the chains that commercialize them, don't have laboratories to verify the maximum time to use the oil to repeatedly fry food.

Hence, the University of Guanajuato (UG) carried on a project to establish the maximum usage times for the oil used to be safe, free of toxic components that may harm the consumers.

The research was linked with a company of grease and oil, it was financed by the Program for the Professional Teacher's Development (PRODEP), and was led by Dr. María Elena Sosa Morales, Coordinator of the Food Program a Campus Irapuato-Salamanca of UG.

On the matter, the professor explained that "what we do is simulate the conditions of fast food restaurants, industrial mess halls, where they fry by immersion and continuously repeat this process for several times", to know if they following the guidelines established by the Mexican regulation.

This also allows the researchers to establish the time or encourage the use of natural antioxidants, so they don't use synthetic antioxidants, and have the same performance of the grease or oil.

UG's team worked with palm olein and certain mixes of commercial oils for different food. After numerous trials and chemical analysis, it was determined that the composition of the food determines in great measure the time the frying oil can be used.

So, while a grease can be used only a day to fry onion rings, the same grease can be used for 5 or 7 days for French fries in safe conditions, without surpassing the limits of the Mexican regulation, exemplified Dr. Sosa Morales.

The project's conclusions are important for the business of grease and oil, because this information recommends their industrial clients the best conditions for the raw materials they use, added the scholar ascribed to the Department of Food.

The project generates applied research and link with the industry, and at the same time, generate high-quality human resources, since they are major and postgraduate students who make the studies in the Laboratory of Food's Physical properties.

The results of the research have been sent to PRODEP, and presented them in an international congress of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE), made in 2016 and in two national congresses.

A major with multiple professional opportunities

This project is a sample of the work developed at Food Engineering, a major offered at UG for over 35 years, and where Dr. María Elena Sosa Morales graduated from.

In this educational program, the students learn to produce and conserve food, as well as the regulation they must follow, according the Mexican and international legislation.

"There is engineering behind the processes where we obtain the final products, we have to know about heat transfer, mass transfer, nourishment, food chemistry, among other topics", mentioned Dr. Sosa, while emphasizing the importance this degree has in the region since there are important companies in this sector.

The graduates from the major in Food Engineering are capable of handling, designing and innovate processes for the innocuous food production with high quality. This allows them to dedicate to the industry, research, food analysis, so they reach consumers with a better quality.