EDITORIAL
Nov., 1949]
Indian Medical Gazette NOVEMBER
HYDROGENATED
VEGETABLE OILS: VEGETABLE GHEE .There is a world shortage of edible vegetable ?Hs and animal fats. In India the animal tats ^'crc never popular with the bulk of the population. The world shortage, therefore, makes the vegetable oils doubly short in India. Oilnuts are being sent out to improve the trade balances. Lac, cashewnuts, raw cotton, 1 aw hides and skins and groundnuts are among
yielding
'
other goods which record advance over Octobei ^ figures' (Daily Press, 1949). .Important, edible oils.?Of edible vegetable 0lls the pride of place goes to the cocoanut oil, and then comes the groundnut oil an undoubted second. From them are made by clarification ?!' % hvdrogenation foodstuffs looking remarkably like clarified butter, the ghee, that much
Misunderstood commodity indigenous population and "
so so
prized by
the
despised by the
estern sojourners. Other oils like the mustard oil, sesame oil and iye oil have also become scarce partly by imitation and partly because the have-nots ot Ule pre-World War II days are now demanding .
Und
having
their full share in the food of the
^orld, beginning
with the
known.
cheapest
and the best
groundnut from 'the pod of Arachis the peanut or the operation peanut' he recent British enterprise in Africa (Owen, in y49) provides the oil number one. The plant is an annual and grows quickly, most unlike the cocoanut. In large-scale production, however, British East Africa scheme has fared badly, n the government in the House of in the British Parliament on 15tli 1949 (reported in this delayed issue ^lc. J?urnal for November 1949) the Opposition Peers mentioned that ?30 m. sunk iii the scheme to increase the world's supply of ^ Lgetable oil had been squandered and had
Really
the
nypogaea, .
^ie
defeating December,
^ords .
'
(Daily Press,
fault, however, does
not appear to
very P^duced 49). The
few
groundnuts
with the groundnuts but with 1 the refusal the auditors to certify that proper accounts , lave been kept' (Crossman, 1949). In India the oil comes mostly from ie
!vhandesh,
formation 011 ghee
groundnut
Madras and Hyderabad. Our inobtained by visiting a local vegetable
factory is that although the quantity is ?uough, in the quality there is much room for improvement. The defect in quality results
mainly
from rancidity which results ct.ive storage of the nut mostly.
Preparation of vegetable ghee.?Ihe mit oil makes
1
from
cocoa-
cocogem' after filtration only.
503
Perhaps it is the most acceptable cooking oil when prepared freshly. A faint flavour of the nut is not unpleasant. Between the two world wars the European countries not using much lard or olive oil were replacing their usual cooking medium, the butter, by cocogem. The groundnut oil is neutralized, decolorized, deodorized, filtered and hydrogenated. The hydrogen in the presence of a catalytic agent (finely divided nickel obtained from nickel formate, for instance) raises its melting point, thus imparting to it the appearance of ghee. The rise in the melting point is controlled by the quantity of the hydrogen mixed with the oil and by the concomitant temperature and pressure. The aim is to keep the melting point between 31 ?C. and 37?C. The groundnut oil has no vitamin A of the butter fat, of course, though it has vitamin E not found in the butter fat. The former vitamin is added to it. The vitamins may be obtained from fish oil or may be a synthetic product (for the benefit of the vegetarians) or only carotene (provitamin A) may be added to impart the colour of ghee from butter from cow's milk. Some manufacturers add only vitamin D (the cheapest which entitles them to ' declare that this product is vitaminized'). Diacetyl is sometimes also added to impart a taste of butter : so real is this taste that of two samples of hydrogenated groundnut oil, one with diacetyl and one without, available simultaneously, the rats will only eat the one with the chemical. The groundnut product is so much like ghee that military establishments call it ghee and call the real stuff milk ghee. The trade names of the product are Dalda, Vanaspati, Rasoi Kusum, etc., etc. (some 20 names in India alone and many more in the U.S.A.). Food value of oils, cocogem, hydrogenated groundnut oil and milk ghee.?In the calorific value there is no difference. In the rate of assimilation there is a difference. Ultimately, however, 97 per cent of all fats and oils are assimilated by the system. The milk ghee is the one article of diet specially prized by the Punjabis of both the Pun jabs. In the good old days when the Punjabi troops remained unsophisticated villagers in the cantonments the subedars used to reconcile disputants by making one party bring ghee for the other on his return from next leave. In both parts of the divided province the difference between a rich man's diet and a poor man's diet is the ghee, quality and quantity thereof. Milk and milk product characterize the diet of the their expectation of life the Punjabis and make 1 in India. you have milk cattle in May highest your house and may you have sons' is the benediction given to a bride on her first arrival. A recent prejudice against vegetable ghee.? About 2 years ago rats and mice fed on vegetable ghee were reported to have lost their fur and
504
THE INDIAN MEDICAL GAZETTE
We understand that experimental work undertaken at several centres of research, subsequent to the adverse report, has not been able to build a case against the vegetable ghee. Adulteration of milk ghee by vegetable ghee.? This undoubtedly occurs. The vegetable ghee can even be incorporated into butter by adding the former to the milk. The detection though possible (by determining volatile fatty acid by Reichert-Polenske process) is laborious. It was suggested that some colouring matter should be added to the vegetable ghee. This suggestion has been withdrawn. Now sesame oil is added to the extent of 5 per cent. This quantity can be detected easily by a colour test. Specification laid down for the vegetable ghee.?A government notification (Notification, 1947) lays down the following :
eyesight.
The Vegetable Oil Products Controller for India licrcbj' prohibits the manufacture, stock or sale of any vegetable oil product, which docs not conform to the following particulars, namely :? 1. It shall not contain any harmful colouring, flavouring or any other matter deleterious to 2.
health. It shall not have moisture exceeding 0.25 per cent.
3.
4. 5. G. 7. S.
The melting point as estimated by the capillary slip method (as described in Note 1 below) shall be from 31 ?C. to 37?C. both inclusive with a tolerance of 2?C. on either side. The butvro refractometer reading at 40?C. shall not be less than 48.0. It shall not have unsaponifiablc matter exceed-
ing
1.5 per cent.
It shall not have free fatty acids calculated as oleic acid exceeding 0.25 per cent. Diacetyl, if present, shall not be in excess of six parts per million. The product on melting shall be clear in appearance. Its taste shall be free from staleness
or
rancidity.
On and after the 1st March, 1947, it shall contain refined or refined hydrogenated .sesame (til) oil not less than 5 per cent, by weight so that when the vegetable oil product is mixed with refined groundnut oil in the proportions of 20 : 80, the red colour produced by the Baudouin test (as described in Note 2 below) shall not be lighter than 2.0 Units in a 1 cm. cell of a Lovibond scale. ' ' Note 1.?The is as Capillary Slip Method follows :? (i) Thin walled glass tube, open at both ends with an external diameter of 1.2 to. 1.5 mm. and internal diameter of 0.83 to 1.1 mm. and length 5 to 6 cm., should be used after proper cleansing and drying. (ii) The sample of fat should bo completely melted and well mixed at a temperature of about 50?C. Insert the capillary tube so that a column of fat about 1 cm. long is forced into it. Allow the fat in the tube to just set by keeping the tube in a horizontal position during winter, and during summer the tube may be put on a perforated metal tray which is so placed inside a small water bath containing water at 15?C. to 17"C. that the bottom of the tray just touches the water. (tit) The tube is then placed in a test-tube immersed in water at 15?C. to 17?C. for one hour. (iv) Suspend a thermometer (reading in 1 /5th of a degree) in the centre of a beaker of water at 10'C. (the beaker is to be provided with a side tube heating arrangement) so that the (J.
.
[Nov., 1949
lower end of the fat column is 3 cm. below the surface of water. Heat the side tube 0 the apparatus gently, so that the temperatui of water increases slowly at the rate of 2?C. I)Cl. minute till the temperature reaches 25?C. an( thereafter at the rate of 1/2 a degree per minute(y) Note the temperature of water when the fa This tempc,a* commences to rise in the tube. ture is recorded as the melting point. The thermometer used in this test should be checked against a standard thermometer, calibrated and certified by the National Physics Laboratory, Tedding ton,
England. Note 2.?The Baudouin test shall be carried out follows :? Place in a test-tube 5 cc. of the sample (20 part' of vegetable oil products and 80 parts of refined groundnut oil) and 6 cc. of hydrochloric 0 (specific gravity 1.19) and add to it 8 drops 2 per cent solution in alcohol of freshly distillc( furfurol; shake vigorously for 2 minutes an allow to stand. The acid layer becomes distinctly red. Quickly filter the acid layer through a wet filter paper and examine the filtrate again5, a Lovibond scale in a 1 cm. cell or against a i'cCl colour comparator. If the vegetable oil products on being shaken with hydrochloric acid alone, conveys a redness to the hydr?' chloric acid owing to the presence of certain artificia1 colouring agents, the procedure is as follows :? Shake 10 cc. of the melted vegetable oil products i'1 10 cC; #a separating funnel for half a minute with of hydrochloric acid, specific gravity 1.125. DiaAV off the red acid layer which collects at the bottom of the funnel and repeat the process until no further coloration takes place. During 1he Ircatmcnt do not permit the temperature of the contents of the separating funnel to exceed tl)!?_ necessary to melt the fat. After the hydrochloric acid has been completely removed apply ^lC Baudouin test as described above.
acKj
Non-hydrogenated groundnut oil.?The pi'0' cesscd oil falling short of hydrogenation, *ulC therefore not white in colour like ghee, is good for cooking as the hydrogenated be considerably and would cheaper. Tl,c rtdo not manufacturers, however, approve of It is supposed to become rancid on keeping sooner than the untreated oil. As a matter fact an untreated oil of a good quality is almost as good : the colour does not show in India11 dishes (excepting articles of diet made fr01.11 flour and meant to look white), the odour lS hardly perceptible and in spiced food a distinction is very difficult indeed. Its use should he encouraged. Studies on it have been undertake'1 (Ramamurti and Banerjee, 1948; abstract in this
product
oj
issue,
p. 521). Mineral oils used in cooking.?They have bed1 used as adulterants and have even been rccon1' mended for slimming as they arc not metabolized in the body. Their use, however, is not ft?? from danger. Although liquid paraffin, heated and unheated, given to rats has not done an) demonstrable harm, it is absorbed when dispersed in an emulsion in particles less than 0.5/ in diameter. Continued ingestion may result 111 deposition of the oil in the intestinal waJ1' mesenteric glands and liver. Deposits in these localities have been found at necropsies 011 subjects who had taken liquid paraffin for years and died from various diseases (Editorial, 19481
frov., 1949]
MEDICAL NEWS
abstracted
in the Indian Medical Gazette, October 1949; vol. 84, p. 474, Current Topics). Such deposits are obviously undesirable. Edible fats and oils from chemicals.?A
suggestion lias been made that edible fats and 01ls can be prepared from CO (Hugh Sinclair, quoted by Chaudhuri, 1949). This perhaps will synchronize with tablets for food. The store, kitchen, pantry and dining room will then be accommodated in a small cupboard in the hall next to the First Aid cupbord in well-appointed
residences.
REFERENCES R.N. (1949). ^haudhuki, Ross man, R.
(1949)
..
T
c
utREjsx Topics (1949). U-ULY Pkess (1949)
..
Idem
(1949)
..
r
J^iToiu.u,F. (1948)
..
(1949)
v
..
?tificatiox (1947) \mamukti.
K.,
"axkrjee, B. N.
..
and (1948).
Indian Med. Guz., 84, 100. Overseas Daily Mail and Sunday Pictorial, Gtli Novr., p. 6.
Indian Med. Gaz., 84, 474. The Statesman, Thursday, 22nd Doc., Late City Edition, Calcutta, p. 10. Ibid., Friday, 16th Dec., p. 8, col. 1. Brit. Med. i, 1141. Leader Magazine, London, 301 h July, p. 5. Govt, of India, Dept. of Food, N.5-VP(l)/46, dated 31st Jan., 1917. Indian Jour. Med. Res., 36, 371.
r
505
Nov., 1949]
Indian Medical Gazette NOVEMBER
HYDROGENATED
VEGETABLE OILS: VEGETABLE GHEE .There is a world shortage of edible vegetable ?Hs and animal fats. In India the animal tats ^'crc never popular with the bulk of the population. The world shortage, therefore, makes the vegetable oils doubly short in India. Oilnuts are being sent out to improve the trade balances. Lac, cashewnuts, raw cotton, 1 aw hides and skins and groundnuts are among
yielding
'
other goods which record advance over Octobei ^ figures' (Daily Press, 1949). .Important, edible oils.?Of edible vegetable 0lls the pride of place goes to the cocoanut oil, and then comes the groundnut oil an undoubted second. From them are made by clarification ?!' % hvdrogenation foodstuffs looking remarkably like clarified butter, the ghee, that much
Misunderstood commodity indigenous population and "
so so
prized by
the
despised by the
estern sojourners. Other oils like the mustard oil, sesame oil and iye oil have also become scarce partly by imitation and partly because the have-nots ot Ule pre-World War II days are now demanding .
Und
having
their full share in the food of the
^orld, beginning
with the
known.
cheapest
and the best
groundnut from 'the pod of Arachis the peanut or the operation peanut' he recent British enterprise in Africa (Owen, in y49) provides the oil number one. The plant is an annual and grows quickly, most unlike the cocoanut. In large-scale production, however, British East Africa scheme has fared badly, n the government in the House of in the British Parliament on 15tli 1949 (reported in this delayed issue ^lc. J?urnal for November 1949) the Opposition Peers mentioned that ?30 m. sunk iii the scheme to increase the world's supply of ^ Lgetable oil had been squandered and had
Really
the
nypogaea, .
^ie
defeating December,
^ords .
'
(Daily Press,
fault, however, does
not appear to
very P^duced 49). The
few
groundnuts
with the groundnuts but with 1 the refusal the auditors to certify that proper accounts , lave been kept' (Crossman, 1949). In India the oil comes mostly from ie
!vhandesh,
formation 011 ghee
groundnut
Madras and Hyderabad. Our inobtained by visiting a local vegetable
factory is that although the quantity is ?uough, in the quality there is much room for improvement. The defect in quality results
mainly
from rancidity which results ct.ive storage of the nut mostly.
Preparation of vegetable ghee.?Ihe mit oil makes
1
from
cocoa-
cocogem' after filtration only.
503
Perhaps it is the most acceptable cooking oil when prepared freshly. A faint flavour of the nut is not unpleasant. Between the two world wars the European countries not using much lard or olive oil were replacing their usual cooking medium, the butter, by cocogem. The groundnut oil is neutralized, decolorized, deodorized, filtered and hydrogenated. The hydrogen in the presence of a catalytic agent (finely divided nickel obtained from nickel formate, for instance) raises its melting point, thus imparting to it the appearance of ghee. The rise in the melting point is controlled by the quantity of the hydrogen mixed with the oil and by the concomitant temperature and pressure. The aim is to keep the melting point between 31 ?C. and 37?C. The groundnut oil has no vitamin A of the butter fat, of course, though it has vitamin E not found in the butter fat. The former vitamin is added to it. The vitamins may be obtained from fish oil or may be a synthetic product (for the benefit of the vegetarians) or only carotene (provitamin A) may be added to impart the colour of ghee from butter from cow's milk. Some manufacturers add only vitamin D (the cheapest which entitles them to ' declare that this product is vitaminized'). Diacetyl is sometimes also added to impart a taste of butter : so real is this taste that of two samples of hydrogenated groundnut oil, one with diacetyl and one without, available simultaneously, the rats will only eat the one with the chemical. The groundnut product is so much like ghee that military establishments call it ghee and call the real stuff milk ghee. The trade names of the product are Dalda, Vanaspati, Rasoi Kusum, etc., etc. (some 20 names in India alone and many more in the U.S.A.). Food value of oils, cocogem, hydrogenated groundnut oil and milk ghee.?In the calorific value there is no difference. In the rate of assimilation there is a difference. Ultimately, however, 97 per cent of all fats and oils are assimilated by the system. The milk ghee is the one article of diet specially prized by the Punjabis of both the Pun jabs. In the good old days when the Punjabi troops remained unsophisticated villagers in the cantonments the subedars used to reconcile disputants by making one party bring ghee for the other on his return from next leave. In both parts of the divided province the difference between a rich man's diet and a poor man's diet is the ghee, quality and quantity thereof. Milk and milk product characterize the diet of the their expectation of life the Punjabis and make 1 in India. you have milk cattle in May highest your house and may you have sons' is the benediction given to a bride on her first arrival. A recent prejudice against vegetable ghee.? About 2 years ago rats and mice fed on vegetable ghee were reported to have lost their fur and
504
THE INDIAN MEDICAL GAZETTE
We understand that experimental work undertaken at several centres of research, subsequent to the adverse report, has not been able to build a case against the vegetable ghee. Adulteration of milk ghee by vegetable ghee.? This undoubtedly occurs. The vegetable ghee can even be incorporated into butter by adding the former to the milk. The detection though possible (by determining volatile fatty acid by Reichert-Polenske process) is laborious. It was suggested that some colouring matter should be added to the vegetable ghee. This suggestion has been withdrawn. Now sesame oil is added to the extent of 5 per cent. This quantity can be detected easily by a colour test. Specification laid down for the vegetable ghee.?A government notification (Notification, 1947) lays down the following :
eyesight.
The Vegetable Oil Products Controller for India licrcbj' prohibits the manufacture, stock or sale of any vegetable oil product, which docs not conform to the following particulars, namely :? 1. It shall not contain any harmful colouring, flavouring or any other matter deleterious to 2.
health. It shall not have moisture exceeding 0.25 per cent.
3.
4. 5. G. 7. S.
The melting point as estimated by the capillary slip method (as described in Note 1 below) shall be from 31 ?C. to 37?C. both inclusive with a tolerance of 2?C. on either side. The butvro refractometer reading at 40?C. shall not be less than 48.0. It shall not have unsaponifiablc matter exceed-
ing
1.5 per cent.
It shall not have free fatty acids calculated as oleic acid exceeding 0.25 per cent. Diacetyl, if present, shall not be in excess of six parts per million. The product on melting shall be clear in appearance. Its taste shall be free from staleness
or
rancidity.
On and after the 1st March, 1947, it shall contain refined or refined hydrogenated .sesame (til) oil not less than 5 per cent, by weight so that when the vegetable oil product is mixed with refined groundnut oil in the proportions of 20 : 80, the red colour produced by the Baudouin test (as described in Note 2 below) shall not be lighter than 2.0 Units in a 1 cm. cell of a Lovibond scale. ' ' Note 1.?The is as Capillary Slip Method follows :? (i) Thin walled glass tube, open at both ends with an external diameter of 1.2 to. 1.5 mm. and internal diameter of 0.83 to 1.1 mm. and length 5 to 6 cm., should be used after proper cleansing and drying. (ii) The sample of fat should bo completely melted and well mixed at a temperature of about 50?C. Insert the capillary tube so that a column of fat about 1 cm. long is forced into it. Allow the fat in the tube to just set by keeping the tube in a horizontal position during winter, and during summer the tube may be put on a perforated metal tray which is so placed inside a small water bath containing water at 15?C. to 17"C. that the bottom of the tray just touches the water. (tit) The tube is then placed in a test-tube immersed in water at 15?C. to 17?C. for one hour. (iv) Suspend a thermometer (reading in 1 /5th of a degree) in the centre of a beaker of water at 10'C. (the beaker is to be provided with a side tube heating arrangement) so that the (J.
.
[Nov., 1949
lower end of the fat column is 3 cm. below the surface of water. Heat the side tube 0 the apparatus gently, so that the temperatui of water increases slowly at the rate of 2?C. I)Cl. minute till the temperature reaches 25?C. an( thereafter at the rate of 1/2 a degree per minute(y) Note the temperature of water when the fa This tempc,a* commences to rise in the tube. ture is recorded as the melting point. The thermometer used in this test should be checked against a standard thermometer, calibrated and certified by the National Physics Laboratory, Tedding ton,
England. Note 2.?The Baudouin test shall be carried out follows :? Place in a test-tube 5 cc. of the sample (20 part' of vegetable oil products and 80 parts of refined groundnut oil) and 6 cc. of hydrochloric 0 (specific gravity 1.19) and add to it 8 drops 2 per cent solution in alcohol of freshly distillc( furfurol; shake vigorously for 2 minutes an allow to stand. The acid layer becomes distinctly red. Quickly filter the acid layer through a wet filter paper and examine the filtrate again5, a Lovibond scale in a 1 cm. cell or against a i'cCl colour comparator. If the vegetable oil products on being shaken with hydrochloric acid alone, conveys a redness to the hydr?' chloric acid owing to the presence of certain artificia1 colouring agents, the procedure is as follows :? Shake 10 cc. of the melted vegetable oil products i'1 10 cC; #a separating funnel for half a minute with of hydrochloric acid, specific gravity 1.125. DiaAV off the red acid layer which collects at the bottom of the funnel and repeat the process until no further coloration takes place. During 1he Ircatmcnt do not permit the temperature of the contents of the separating funnel to exceed tl)!?_ necessary to melt the fat. After the hydrochloric acid has been completely removed apply ^lC Baudouin test as described above.
acKj
Non-hydrogenated groundnut oil.?The pi'0' cesscd oil falling short of hydrogenation, *ulC therefore not white in colour like ghee, is good for cooking as the hydrogenated be considerably and would cheaper. Tl,c rtdo not manufacturers, however, approve of It is supposed to become rancid on keeping sooner than the untreated oil. As a matter fact an untreated oil of a good quality is almost as good : the colour does not show in India11 dishes (excepting articles of diet made fr01.11 flour and meant to look white), the odour lS hardly perceptible and in spiced food a distinction is very difficult indeed. Its use should he encouraged. Studies on it have been undertake'1 (Ramamurti and Banerjee, 1948; abstract in this
product
oj
issue,
p. 521). Mineral oils used in cooking.?They have bed1 used as adulterants and have even been rccon1' mended for slimming as they arc not metabolized in the body. Their use, however, is not ft?? from danger. Although liquid paraffin, heated and unheated, given to rats has not done an) demonstrable harm, it is absorbed when dispersed in an emulsion in particles less than 0.5/ in diameter. Continued ingestion may result 111 deposition of the oil in the intestinal waJ1' mesenteric glands and liver. Deposits in these localities have been found at necropsies 011 subjects who had taken liquid paraffin for years and died from various diseases (Editorial, 19481
frov., 1949]
MEDICAL NEWS
abstracted
in the Indian Medical Gazette, October 1949; vol. 84, p. 474, Current Topics). Such deposits are obviously undesirable. Edible fats and oils from chemicals.?A
suggestion lias been made that edible fats and 01ls can be prepared from CO (Hugh Sinclair, quoted by Chaudhuri, 1949). This perhaps will synchronize with tablets for food. The store, kitchen, pantry and dining room will then be accommodated in a small cupboard in the hall next to the First Aid cupbord in well-appointed
residences.
REFERENCES R.N. (1949). ^haudhuki, Ross man, R.
(1949)
..
T
c
utREjsx Topics (1949). U-ULY Pkess (1949)
..
Idem
(1949)
..
r
J^iToiu.u,F. (1948)
..
(1949)
v
..
?tificatiox (1947) \mamukti.
K.,
"axkrjee, B. N.
..
and (1948).
Indian Med. Guz., 84, 100. Overseas Daily Mail and Sunday Pictorial, Gtli Novr., p. 6.
Indian Med. Gaz., 84, 474. The Statesman, Thursday, 22nd Doc., Late City Edition, Calcutta, p. 10. Ibid., Friday, 16th Dec., p. 8, col. 1. Brit. Med. i, 1141. Leader Magazine, London, 301 h July, p. 5. Govt, of India, Dept. of Food, N.5-VP(l)/46, dated 31st Jan., 1917. Indian Jour. Med. Res., 36, 371.
r
505
