Changes in food caused by deep fat frying--a review.

Deep-fat frying is widely used in food industries because of its low cost and high demand, since it produces convenient food of high acceptability. The process is based on the oil-food interaction at high temperatures, which cooks and dehydrates the food, leading to physical and chemical changes, such as starch gelatinization, protein denaturation, flavoring and color production via Maillard reaction. Some food and oil compounds are lost in the frying process, and potentially toxic compounds are developed in the oxidized oil. Although widely studied, many of these compounds have not been fully identified. The purpose of this study was to review literature findings on changes in food caused by the frying process.