Make sure your fried dishes are safe and healthy with Prep

It’s always worth investing time to look after your frying oils – they’ll last longer, saving you time and money, and will ensure you are serving the best possible products to your customers.

But did you know there are also important health reasons at play when ensuring you’re frying with the best quality frying oils?

Frying in oil that's past its best will produce dark brown rather than golden food, with an unpleasant, rancid smell and taste. It could be unsafe, too, if the build-up of burnt food particles in the oil has created acrylamide.

Acrylamide is a naturally occurring chemical substance, formed by a reaction between amino acids and sugars. It occurs typically when foods with a high starch content, such as potatoes, root vegetables and bread, are fried, roasted or baked at temperatures over 120°C.

Acrylamide has the potential to cause cancer and is therefore a risk to human health. Legislation put in place in the UK in 2018 requires vendors to ensure levels of acrylamide in foods are below a recommended standard.

Careful oil management is one of the simplest and most effective ways to comply with the legislation. To ensure your food not only looks and tastes great but is also meeting standards on acrylamide, follow these handy tips…

• Fry at the correct temperature – it is better to fry at a lower temperature for longer
• Don’t overfill your frying basket – as a drop in oil temperature will not only degrade your oil more quickly, but if the temperature drops too much oil will soak into your food – making it more oily and less healthy

• Skim regularly to remove particles – if you’re frying things like battered or breaded fish, chicken, or vegetables – or frying sweet doughs for desserts – loose particles can carbonise and ruin your oil quality, while producing acrylamides

• Filter daily and top up with fresh oil to the correct level – this will not only remove contaminants but also help extend the life of your oil by up to 25%

In addition to cooking at the correct temperature and not overfilling the frying basket, the single most important thing you can do to ensure great fried food is to fry in oil which is within its quality window.

The good news is that the fry life quality window for Prep long life frying oils is up to three times longer than standard, extended life frying oil.*

At Prep we are experts at not just producing high performance long life frying oils, but also in oil management, taking strides to help you create delicious dishes that are not just great quality, but are also safe and healthy.

We also know that Prep is good news for your business – by helping you optimise oil expenditure and reduce waste. If you’d like to find out more about Prep, make sure you get in touch.

*Typical values verified against laboratory OSI tests at 120℃ to bring oil to discard point. Source AAK International.