An update on potato crisps contents of moisture, fat, salt and fatty acids (including trans-fatty acids) with special emphasis on new oils/fats used for frying

Abstract

Eighteen brands of potato crisps, frequently consumed, were analyzed to establish their nutritional value in relation to salt, fat and fatty acid (FA) composition. The purpose of the present study was to determine moisture, total fat, salt contents and FA profiles (including trans-FAs), and to identify the oil/fat used for frying of the 18 brands of potato crisps. Our results show that salt content ranged from 0.127 to 2.77 g/100 g and total fat content of potato crisps varied between 20.0 and 42.8 g/100 g. With respect to FAs analysis, palmitic acid (C16:0), oleic acid (C18:1) and linoleic acid (C18:2) were the major FAs found in the analyzed potato crisps. It is clear from our work that nowadays most potato crisps are currently produced using oils with high contents in unsaturated FAs, which can be considered as healthier from a nutritional point of view. Nevertheless, some brands of potato crisps still use palm oil or a blend of palm oil and other fats/oils, which are very rich in saturated FAs.

Keywords::

• potato crisps
• fatty acids
• total fat
• salt
• gas chromatography

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the ‘Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia’, Portugal, for the Postdoctoral contract of Ana Sanches Silva in the frame of the Program ‘Science 2007’.

Declaration of interest: This work was financially funded by the Instituto Nacional de Saúde Doutor Ricardo Jorge, I.P. Lisbon, Portugal.