Mel-Fry

[Lindacakes]

I don't eat a lot of fried foods, at least, I think I don't.

 

A friend of mine who once worked in the restaurant business told me about Mel-Fry.  I understand that it's a "bad" oil to begin with, that it is used to fry for a long time before changing it, and that a truck needs to come round and suck out the Mel-Fry to get rid of it.

 

I am hoping that Willie Nelson's car is running on Mel-Fry.

 

How bad is it and how prevalent is it?  I'd never thought about my occasional Indian banana pakoora or Nathan's french fries or doughnuts as having been steeped in grotesque dirty chemicals. 

 

I guess another treat has gone out the window . . . 

[cdh]

What makes this stuff any different than plain old canola oil or even lard? 

 

What do you mean by "bad"?  Saturated?  As I recall from the one time I met it (when helping out at a funnel cake stand at a country fair), it was cloudy but pourable at Memorial Day outdoors temperatures. 

 

I seem to recall straining it and returning it to its jerry cans when it had cooled down.  I recall no hazmat trucks or special precautions being needed... I'd wager that a bistro that fries everything in duck fat and lard subscribes to the same oil hauling service to take away their used oils that hauls this stuff away.

 

What gave it such a terrible reputation in your mind?  It seems like a brand for a line of engineered oils, but what makes that so bad?

[AlaMoi]

what's so bad about it?

 

it's a blend of cottonseed and canola.

 

now, canola comes from rapeseed - which in the mustard family - and we all know where mustard gas comes from - so it is obviously a deadly compound.

 

next problem is the cottonseed oil - comes from cotton mouth snakes - which are as we all know - poisonous vipers.  two deadly compounds in one!

[Anna N]

what's so bad about it?

 

it's a blend of cottonseed and canola.

 

now, canola comes from rapeseed - which in the mustard family - and we all know where mustard gas comes from - so it is obviously a deadly compound.

 

next problem is the cottonseed oil - comes from cotton mouth snakes - which are as we all know - poisonous vipers.  two deadly compounds in one!

Lindacakes is looking for some objective information about this oil and its safety. Sarcasm aside it is very difficult to find any objective information. There is plenty of marketing from both the maker and the sellers but almost nothing else. It appears to be an omega-9 oil that has been engineered for long life in the restaurant industry. Claims are made that it is heart healthy but I see nothing to back up these claims. Anybody?

[AlaMoi]

difficult to find?  only if you don't have a search engine.

here's the objective stuff:

Additional Information:

Ingredients: Cottonseed oil, canola oil, TBHQ and citric acid added to protect flavor, dimethylpolysiloxane, an anti-foaming agent added.

Code Date: Alpha plant designation, julian date and year.
Attributes:
SKU     40017-MFF
Calories     120
Calories from fat     120
Child Nutrition Label (Y/N)     No
Cholesterol mg     0
Dietary Fiber g     0
Fat g     14
Kosher (Y/N)     Yes
Organic Label (Y/N)     No
Protein g     0
Saturated fat g     2.5
Serving Size     1 TBSP
Servings per case     1920 TBSP

===============================

 

TBHQ is tert-Butylhydroquinone (tertiary butylhydroquinone) and is not listed even in California's list of proposed things that kill you.
citric acid is vitamin C, that's highly dangerous

and dimethylpolysiloxane is equally as dangerous.

 

the Europeans can look it up under E319.

 

for people who like to scare people, it is linked to every unpleasant condition known to man. 

 

[Anna N]

difficult to find?  only if you don't have a search engine.

here's the objective stuff:

Additional Information:

Ingredients: Cottonseed oil, canola oil, TBHQ and citric acid added to protect flavor, dimethylpolysiloxane, an anti-foaming agent added.

Code Date: Alpha plant designation, julian date and year.

Attributes:

SKU     40017-MFF

Calories     120

Calories from fat     120

Child Nutrition Label (Y/N)     No

Cholesterol mg     0

Dietary Fiber g     0

Fat g     14

Kosher (Y/N)     Yes

Organic Label (Y/N)     No

Protein g     0

Saturated fat g     2.5

Serving Size     1 TBSP

Servings per case     1920 TBSP

===============================

 

TBHQ is tert-Butylhydroquinone (tertiary butylhydroquinone) and is not listed even in California's list of proposed things that kill you.

citric acid is vitamin C, that's highly dangerous

and dimethylpolysiloxane is equally as dangerous.

 

the Europeans can look it up under E319.

 

for people who like to scare people, it is linked to every unpleasant condition known to man.

I am quite capable of searching thank you. Perhaps you need some classes in reading? I was searching for information to support the claims of heart healthy not looking for its chemical constituents.

[AlaMoi]

suggest searching for claims of heart healthy on

cottonseed oil

canola oil

 

it does not matter what source I might cite or you might cite.

some people believe in science

some people believer in Livestrong, Mercola, third world witch doctors, etc.

 

anything anyone comes up with that says X is good for your heart will be contradicted by somebody citing internet source Y that insists it is fatal for your heart.

 

like the dude once said:  "A mind, terrible thing to waste"

[Mjx]

I don't eat a lot of fried foods, at least, I think I don't.

 

A friend of mine who once worked in the restaurant business told me about Mel-Fry.  I understand that it's a "bad" oil to begin with, that it is used to fry for a long time before changing it, and that a truck needs to come round and suck out the Mel-Fry to get rid of it.

 

I am hoping that Willie Nelson's car is running on Mel-Fry.

 

How bad is it and how prevalent is it?  I'd never thought about my occasional Indian banana pakoora or Nathan's french fries or doughnuts as having been steeped in grotesque dirty chemicals. 

 

I guess another treat has gone out the window . . . 

 

If you're consuming this only now and then, it seems unlikely to do any harm, unless you happen to be sensitive to one of the ingredients. Percentage-wise, fat actually comprises fairly little of most fried food, even though it's clearly in evidence, because it coats the surface.

[pbear]

By the by, citric acid isn't vitamin C.  That's ascorbic acid.

[AlaMoi]

ack!  you're right. 

 

the OP 'steeped in grotesque dirty chemicals'  appears to be unimportant per later posts.

[pbear]

In fairness, that citric acid isn't vitamin C was a nitpick, but I thought it a nit worth picking.

 

As for the OP, I will say that I'm unable after a fair amount of searching to find any sites explaining or even discussing the concern.  I'm left only with the option of speculating, and what I suspect this is about is a Dorian Gray problem, i.e., that if Mel-Fry is resistant to heat break down, there must be some heavy manipulation involved and some folks don't like that on principle when food is involved. Indeed, my initial inclination was to presume some form of hydrogenation.  Turns out that's wrong.  Rather, the process by which Ventura Foods prepares Mel-Fry (half a dozen products, by the way, not just one; see the drop-down under "shortenings & oils") is disclosed in a patent (warning: this is a long read) and involves a combination of emulsifiers and filtering, but not hydrogenation.  Whether this suits one's philosophical preferences is another matter, but there's no obvious health concern that I can see.

[Lindacakes]

Thank you for your insights, they've been helpful to me.

 

I've learned about cottonseed oil and why I don't want to consume it.  I was actually completely unaware of it.

 

So, even though I seem to have offended many with my ignorance, I'm where I started:  I think I'll stop eating fried food.

[cdh]

I'm still not clear on what got you so scared of this stuff...  Nothing I've seen about cottonseed oil has made me think "disgusting noxious chemical" or however you described the stuff... The world is made entirely of chemicals... and most of them are not disgusting or noxious... 

 

If you're sure you want to avoid cottonseed oil, it seems that Crisco is right out (as it should be anyway because it is hydrogenated), and lots of other non-fried foods are suspect too.  I do wish you could explain what you've seen written about cottonseed oil that makes you so averse.

 

FYI: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cottonseed_oil

Edited November 18, 2014 by cdh (log)

[Deryn]

Some people apparently get violently ill from eating foods fried in cottonseed oil. I am not sure anyone knows exactly why. Could be that the source of the oil, the cotton plant, was sprayed with many chemicals that are still present in the oil after extraction. It is actually a waste product from making cotton - not normally produced directly and only for food purposes, from my understanding - and the cotton itself doesn't really present an issue if it is sprayed with pesticides and if it is GMO. However, the oil might. Also since the processing may not be done completely under US/North American regulations and observation (often done in China I think) perhaps there is a trace or two of glossypol left in some of it as well - which can be toxic.

I am not an expert - and yes, I too found many differing opinions during my own web search - but the above things occurred to me - and would give me pause for thought.

[AlaMoi]

Thank you for your insights, they've been helpful to me.

 

I've learned about cottonseed oil and why I don't want to consume it.  I was actually completely unaware of it.

 

So, even though I seem to have offended many with my ignorance, I'm where I started:  I think I'll stop eating fried food.

 

I'm glad you took some time to research this.  you may already have stumbled over the following sites, but as I posted before, on the internet every opinion has a different opinion.  so it is a good idea to consider the "qualifications" of the source.

 

http://www.naturalnews.com/015959_heart_health_cottonseed_oil.html

http://www.cottonseedoil.com/about-cottonseed-oil/

http://www.cottonseedoil.com/

http://www.cottonseedoiltour.com/cso-factsheet/

http://www.acala-farms.com/why-cottonseed-oil/

 

the only thing these sites "prove" is "posted on the internet" does not mean anything.

 

there is one flaw in the soup:  not every place that deep fries foodstuff uses Mel-Fry - or 'the same of something else" - the decision to stop eating fried (deep fried?....) foods is - depending on which health guru you follow - not a bad thing.  but formulating that approach based on the incorrect idea that every deep frier on the planet uses Mel-Fry is not valid.

Edited November 18, 2014 by AlaMoi (log)