Stabilization of Peanut Oil by Pomegranate Peel Extract

Synthetic antioxidants are widely used as stabilizers and antioxidants in all fatty foods but they are suspected to pose health hazards and illness. Processing of domestic agro wastes can help obtain natural plant antioxidants that could effectively inhibit the extent of lipid oxidation. This current study aims to reveal the superior antioxidant capacity of agro wastes namely pomegranate peels when used in oxidation substrate namely once cooked commercial peanut oil. Pomegranate peel powder was obtained by shade drying and extraction was done by orbital shaking with distilled water. Oil blends containing 200, 400, 600, 800 and 1000 ppm of the hydro-extract were made with cooked oil. Oxidation parameters such as percentage free fatty acids, peroxide value, saponification value and iodine value were assessed for a period of 24 days at 2 day interval. Synthetic antioxidant BHT was (200 ppm) found to exhibit better protection against lipid oxidation than pomegranate peel extract of 200, 400 and 600 ppm. Peel extract of 800 and 1000 ppm showed better results than BHT. By statistical analysis using ANOVA and Student t-test, it was found that optimal performance was exhibited by pomegranate peel hydro-extract at 800 ppm.