QUANTOFIX Free Fatty Acids Test Strips

A semi-quantitative test strip for free fatty acids in frying oil. Dip it, wait the stated time, and compare the pad against the colour scale on the tube.

Why it is measured

Frying oil does not fail suddenly; it degrades a little with every batch, and free fatty acids are the measure of how far it has gone. Colour is a poor guide — dark oil can be fine and pale oil can be spent.

Where it is used

• commercial kitchens
• snack and food frying lines
• oil change scheduling
• edible oil quality control

What a strip can and cannot do

A strip gives a range, not a figure. That is enough for the great majority of decisions — dose or do not dose, discharge or hold, keep running or stop — and it gives the answer where the sample is, in about a minute, with no instrument to calibrate and nothing to carry back to a laboratory.

When a number has to be defensible — a regulatory report, a dispute, a limit you are close to — a photometer or a laboratory method is the right tool. The strip's job is to tell you whether you need one.

Practical note

Test the oil hot but not at frying temperature, and always at the same point in the cycle, or the readings are not comparable.

Supplied in one presentation.