Flavors' Decreasing Contribution to p-Anisidine Value Over Shelf Life
May Invalidate the GOED Recommended Protocol for Flavored Fish Oils
Abstract
American Oil Chemists’ Society (AOCS)’s Official Method Cd 18-90 for
p-Anisidine Value (pAV) is commonly used to evaluate secondary oxidation
in fish oils. Flavoring agents in fish oil products may interfere with
pAV and lead to inaccurate results. The Global Organization for EPA and
DHA (GOED) recommends a protocol for calculating pAV of flavored fish
oils, based on the assumption that flavors’ contribution to the pAV does
not change over the course of oxidation. The objective of this study was
to test this assumption. All fourteen flavors evaluated increased the
pAV when added to fresh fish oil; chocolate-vanilla and lemon flavors
generated the largest increase. Under accelerated oxidation conditions,
both chocolate-vanilla and lemon flavors had a similar effect; oxidized
flavored fish oils had lower pAV than oxidized fish oils with newly
added flavors. This was due to either an antioxidant effect of the
flavor or degradation of the flavor during oxidation. Following the GOED
recommendation, we would have underestimated the oxidation in the
flavored oils. For this reason, pAV of flavored fish oils should be
considered with caution and used in combination with other secondary
oxidation markers when possible.