The smoke point indicates the temperature at which a heated food fat begins to decompose in an important manner, oxidizing and releasing volatile compounds that give rise to a clearly visible bluish smoke. This smoke is bothersome to the eyes and toxic to the respiratory tract.
The smoking point is also that temperature at which the decomposition of the oil begins to give rise to compounds toxic to human health, such as for example the acrolein.
For frying it is therefore necessary to prefer oils with a high smoke point, such as refined peanut or various seed oils, while it is better to avoid the use of animal fats.
The tables relative to the smoke point differ according to the authors of the study, since numerous are the factors that influence it
- decreases with increasing amounts of protein, water and free fatty acids present in the oil â † 'the smoking point of refined oils is therefore higher;
- increases as the oil's antioxidant content increases;
- Is greater in virgin oil than is already used.
In the table the smoke points reported on the dedicated web page on en.wikipedia.org
