The oxidative deterioration of milk emulsions supplemented with 1.5 wt-% fish oil was investigated by sensory evaluation and by determining the peroxide value and volatile oxidation products after cold storage. Two types of milk emulsions were produced, one with a highly unsaturated tuna oil (38 wt-% of n-3 fatty acids) and one with cod liver oil (26 wt-% of n-3 fatty acids). The effect of added calcium disodium ethylenediaminetetraacetate (EDTA) on oxidation was also investigated. Emulsions based on cod liver oil with a slightly elevated peroxide value (1.5 meq/kg) oxidised significantly faster than the tuna oil emulsions, having a lower initial peroxide value (0.1 meq/kg). In the tuna oil emulsions the fishy off-flavour could not be detected throughout the storage period. Addition of 5-50 ppm EDTA significantly reduced the development of volatile oxidation products in the cod liver oil emulsions, indicating that metal chelation with EDTA could inhibit the decomposition of lipid hydroperoxides in these emulsions. This study showed that an oxidatively stable milk emulsion containing highly polyunsaturated tuna fish oil could be prepared without significant fishy off-flavour development upon storage, provided that the initial peroxide value was sufficiently low.Keywords: Fish oil, oxidation, sensory analysis, emulsion, multivariate data analysis, EDTA.Correspondence: Charlotte Jacobsen, Department of Seafood Research, Danish Institute for Fisheries Research, Building 221, Technical University of Denmark, DK-2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark. Phone: ages. Three concentrations of EDTA were evaluated in both types of fish oil enriched milk. Droplet sizes were also determined, because decreased droplet size in oil-inwater emulsions may promote oxidation by increasing the droplet surface area [13,14].
Materials and methods
MaterialsFresh skim milk (fat content <0.01%) was purchased during the summer in a local supermarket within 24 h after production. A non-commercial cod liver oil was supplied by Maritex A/S, Århus, Denmark. In contrast to commercial products from Maritex, the oil used in the present experiment had not been supplemented with antioxidants. The oil was stored at -20 °C at Biocentrum-DTU for half a year before use. The quality of the cod liver oil used in the present experiment does therefore not reflect the quality of commercial cod liver oil products from Maritex A/S. An unstabilised tuna oil was provided by Roche Vitamins, Heanor, UK. The fatty acid composition [15], peroxide values (PV), levels of tocopherol [16], and iron content [17] of the oils are given in Tab. 1. Calcium disodium ethylenediaminetetraacetate (EDTA), chemicals for hydroperoxide determination, and external standards for identification of volatile oxidation products were all obtained from Sigma Aldrich, Steinheim, Germany. All solvents were of HPLC grade from Lab-Scan, Dublin, Ireland.
Sample preparationMilk (2L) was pasteurised by heating to 72 °C within 3 min, holding for 15 s, and then cooling to 50 °C with ice and continuous bubbling w...