A comparative study of the thermal and oxidative stability of moringa oil with olive and canola oils

moringa oleifera l. is an unconventional source of edible oil. like olive oil, it is rich in oleic acid (monounsaturated fatty acid) with a high potential to be used in food preparation. the present investigation reports on a study of oxidative stability of moringa oil compared with olive and canola oils, employing the rancimat and petrooxy accelerated techniques and schaal test. the values of induction periods obtained in the rancimat test showed that moringa oil (23.68 ± 0.54 h) presented an oxidative stability similar to that of olive oil (23.43 ± 0.24 h) and both moringa and olive oils were significantly more stable than canola oil, (7.58 ± 0.33 h), although the petrooxy test found the highest oxidative stability for moringa oil. thermal degradation assessment of the oil samples was carried out using a thermogravimetric (tg) analysis. tg curves of the oils showed three stages of mass loss, and the moringa oil showed the higher thermal stability among the studied oils. in addition, the moringa oil remained practically unchanged in the schaal test, whereas the olive and canola oils had undergone isomerization, evidenced by the absorbance of fatty acids with trans double bonds observed in the infrared spectra. results obtained showed that moringa oil presented the good thermal and oxidative stability, being indicative that its shelf life would be longer when compared to the other oils evaluated.