Reactivity of red palm oil and cyanide ion: implications for the cyanogen content of palm oil-treated gari.
Red palm oil was tested for the reactivity of its components with CN-, and alkaline picrate as the color developing reagent. Palm oil components have a low-level absorbance at 490 nm which is reduced significantly (p< or =0.01) after reaction with CN-. Hydrolysis of palm oil components, and reaction of the hydrolysis products with CN- significantly increased the absorbance at 490 nm. In contrast, after reaction of palm oil with alkaline picrate, the absorbance at 490 nm is very high; this is reduced significantly by reaction with CN-, hydrolysis with 0.2 M NaOH, and reaction of the hydrolysis products with CN- before treatment with alkaline picrate. The results indicate that palm oil component(s) sequester CN- into a complex which may not be correctly estimated during cyanide quantification, resulting in the absence, or low levels of cyanide in palm oil-fried gari as earlier reported.
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Department of Food Science and Technology, University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
D005511:Food Handling; D006868:Hydrolysis; D002365:Manihot / Q000737:chemistry*; D009570:Nitriles / Q000032:analysis*; D000073878:Palm Oil; D010851:Picrates / Q000737:chemistry; D010938:Plant Oils / Q000737:chemistry*; D011190:Potassium Cyanide / Q000737:chemistry*; D012972:Sodium Hydroxide / Q000737:chemistry; D013053:Spectrophotometry
D009570:Nitriles; D010851:Picrates; D010938:Plant Oils; C011206:cyanogen; D012972:Sodium Hydroxide; D000073878:Palm Oil; C005858:picric acid; D011190:Potassium Cyanide