How Often Should Frying Oil Be Changed to Ensure Safety? | Seeking Your Opinions and Insights

LSuricate on 26/05/2024 - 10:40

I once called the local KFC and asked how often they change the oil. They said around once in a couple of weeks and they don't have a regular schedule for it. I asked ChatGPT about the cancer risk. Just wondering what everyone thinks

===

ChatGPT:

If KFC changes their frying oil every two weeks, there could be a higher risk of carcinogen formation due to the extended use of the oil. The likelihood of cancer risk increases with prolonged use of oil because harmful substances like polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), heterocyclic amines (HCAs), and oxidized lipids accumulate over time, especially with repeated high-temperature frying.

Factors Increasing Cancer Risk with Extended Oil Use:
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs): Formed when oil is repeatedly heated and food particles burn. PAHs are known carcinogens.

Heterocyclic Amines (HCAs): Produced when meat is cooked at high temperatures for extended periods. HCAs can damage DNA, leading to cancer.

Oxidized Lipids: Prolonged use of oil leads to oxidation, creating toxic compounds linked to cancer.

Acrylamide: Although more common in starchy foods, high temperatures over long periods can still cause acrylamide formation, a probable human carcinogen.

Measures to Reduce Risk:
Frequent Oil Changes: Ideally, oil should be changed more frequently than every two weeks to minimize the accumulation of harmful substances. In the fast-food industry, best practices often suggest changing oil daily or after a specific number of uses.

Oil Filtration: Regularly filtering oil to remove food particles and impurities can help extend the oil's usable life while reducing the formation of harmful compounds.

Temperature Control: Maintaining optimal frying temperatures and avoiding excessive heat can reduce the formation of carcinogens.

Conclusion:
While KFC likely follows stringent safety protocols, changing oil only every two weeks can still pose a significant health risk. Frequent monitoring and filtering might mitigate some risks, but regular oil replacement is critical for minimizing carcinogen formation.

Food & Grocery Cooking Oil

Comments

  • MS Paint on 26/05/2024 - 10:45
    +34

    Too hard for me to compute on a Sunday morning. I'm off to church for my sins.

    • Jimothy Wongingtons on 26/05/2024 - 10:55
      +19

      Same

      Priest: * press intercom to assistant * Rhonda, can you go ahead and cancel the rest of the weeks appointments, this guy will be a while

    • bobbified on 26/05/2024 - 14:14
      +6

      I'm off to church for my sins.

      Remember to give other people a turn too….!

    • DashCam AKA Rolts on 26/05/2024 - 17:31
      +2

      Had to light so many candles, the CFS were called out.

      • MS Paint on 26/05/2024 - 17:36
        +2

        Candles makes scents. Cheers.

    • iminabrons on 27/05/2024 - 16:15
      +1

      You get your sins from a church! That is soooo sophisticated.

  • Stewardo on 26/05/2024 - 10:49
    +25

    What about the mash potato and gravy tubs that kfc reheat to the point they change shape, you can’t tell me the hot toxic plastic isn’t leaking into the potato.

    • plmko on 26/05/2024 - 16:33
      +2

      You should see what happens when you microwave those containers…..says it all really.

      • FareEvader on 27/05/2024 - 10:23

        You shouldn't microwave plastic anyway

    • ThadtheChad on 27/05/2024 - 15:01
      +1

      Tbf, when you're eating KFC… the off-gassed chemicals leaking into the shitty mash is only one among a long list of health hazards.

  • c64 on 26/05/2024 - 10:52
    +23

    don't eat fried food. problem solved

    • onetwothreefour on 26/05/2024 - 11:18
      +11

      What other type of food is there?

      • tooblue on 26/05/2024 - 12:01
        +3

        Steam vegetable

        • Suricate on 26/05/2024 - 12:47
          -5

          I prefer raw vegetables.
          Just chop and eat. No need to use gas/electricity.
          No need to wash dishes.
          Environment friendly

          • Randolph Duke on 26/05/2024 - 17:48
            +5

            @Suricate: So you don’t even eat KFC? Let the rest of us kill ourselves on the Colonel’s finest, and find something more productive to do with your time than harass the staff earning minimum wage.

            • Suricate on 26/05/2024 - 19:40
              -1

              @Randolph Duke: I do eat KFC but not as often as I used to. I'm getting old. I feel tired after having deep fries like donuts/KFC. And I eat vegetables while hoping to detox Sometimes I laugh at myself after having KFC… I know it's not healthy but I pay for it. Quite interesting… haha

          • bp2000 on 28/05/2024 - 00:51

            @Suricate: If you care about the environment. Then it is a great thing that they don't change their oil more often right?

            I presume cooking oil is recycled to some degree maybe but still a lot of energy would have to be spent dealing with 3x the oil consumption.

            Seems reasonable to me that oil is changed on a color and condition threshold rather than a time threshold. Given that time doesn't mean a lot at all for oil.

            • Suricate on 28/05/2024 - 01:06

              @bp2000:

              Given that time doesn't mean a lot at all for oil.

              You need to consider oxidation as well

        • smartazz104 on 26/05/2024 - 17:27
          +4

          He said food.

        • iminabrons on 27/05/2024 - 16:17

          The day they make vegetables out of meat products is the day when I eat vegetables.

        • iDroid on 27/05/2024 - 17:33

          We're talking about food though.

      • kaleidoscope on 27/05/2024 - 08:00

        baked, chilled, raw, bbq, smoked, grilled, preserved (pickled, dried, dipped in olive oil/ tomato, …) … take your pick

      • SuperLate on 27/05/2024 - 09:33
        +1

        Exactly! It's like engine oil, you never change it just top it up.

  • Jimothy Wongingtons on 26/05/2024 - 10:58
    +4

    2 weeks??? Damn must be some awesome filtering. Even the local carvery by Wednesday you can really taste the oil hasn’t been changed since Monday. Like I’ll still be getting the family chips with large gravy, 2 Dagwood dogs, large iced coffee and chase it with a dart for smoko but it just ain’t ‘fresh’? Iunno

  • rumblytangara on 26/05/2024 - 11:00
    +7

    I once called the local KFC and asked how often they change the oil. They said around once in a couple of weeks and they don't have a regular schedule for it. I asked ChatGPT about the cancer risk. Just wondering what everyone thinks

    You should ask ChatGTP what it thinks of that answer.

      • rumblytangara on 26/05/2024 - 14:26
        +6

        Then you have your answer.

          • rumblytangara on 26/05/2024 - 15:42
            +19

            @Suricate: Funny, I thought the same. Yet here we are.

            • Suricate on 26/05/2024 - 22:02

              @rumblytangara: Yes, various opinions as everyone has a different background/experience/knowledge
              people mentioned different types of fats/oils, vaccinations, etc. A former KFC area manager explained how the oil is treated.
              Thank you everyone for your input!!

          • iminabrons on 27/05/2024 - 16:25

            @Suricate: Are you implying AI has no empathy, or insights, or that it often makes mistakes?

      • Charmoffensive on 28/05/2024 - 11:19

        Stop using a LLM which is essentially fancy predictive text to research for you and learn how to use google to do your own research, ya smooth brain.

  • solidussnake on 26/05/2024 - 11:02
    +3

    Because clean oil will enable you to continue eating fast food without any risks…

    • Jimothy Wongingtons on 26/05/2024 - 11:07
      +5

      Sure they are literal trans fat bombs but god damnnnn how GOOD are freshly cooked and salted kfc chips

    • Sinnerator on 27/05/2024 - 08:31
      +2

      finally someone gets it !!!

      • Chandler on 27/05/2024 - 11:06

        Yeah, you're more likely to die from other diseases (i.e. heart disease) caused by consumption of KFC / KFC-style food than you are from cancer caused by the oil they cooked it in…

  • Worf on 26/05/2024 - 11:02
    +3

    I wonder about smaller restaurants, I imagine extending the cooking oil change interval would be an attractive cost cutting measure, at the potential expense of the customer’s longer term health

    • Nugs on 26/05/2024 - 11:04
      +6

      what changes? just keep topping it up
      .

    • solidussnake on 27/05/2024 - 10:49
      +1

      Usually they run them through a filter each day

  • 7ekn00 on 26/05/2024 - 11:10
    +4

    Depends on the oil, saturated fat (Tallow / Lard) is much harder to oxidise than poly-unsaturated fat (ie. Vegetable Oil) …

    PAH's and HCAs can often be filtered out after use …

    Now look up the original inventors of Vegetable Oils (ie Nazi's) and what they bragged about using them for (ie diesel engine lubrication)!!

    • mrdean on 26/05/2024 - 13:36
      -5

      I'm guessing a GAB user here who saw Torba's email about seed oils.

      • 7ekn00 on 26/05/2024 - 13:39

        No idea what GAB nor Torba is …

        I get my info from practising doctors that have 1000s of patients' data to draw upon (not PhDs / medical intern that has never seen a patient) ;)

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lRXZfs6Sjs

        • mrdean on 26/05/2024 - 14:01
          +1

          Fair enough, the timing was interesting, thought you may have been aware.

          But yeah, long history of people warning about seed oils. Guess what? Research has been suppressed, marginalised, defunded & researchers/doctors silenced. Shocker I know. Same goes for a whole lot of other topics "they" don't want us to realise.

          • Mad Max on 26/05/2024 - 14:54
            +1

            @mrdean: Vegetable oils or seed oils are in everything though. Unavoidable even if you are careful and avoid junk food like kfc, mcdonalds, hungry jacks, etc.
            Almost everything you buy has vegetable oil in the ingredients list

            • mrdean on 26/05/2024 - 15:19
              +1

              @Mad Max: Nothing I knowingly buy has seed oils in it (ingredients list), although I'm sure there's either contamination somewhere along the line, or they are used in the refining or processing of certain products.

              But the point is that their development was industrial, or a repurposed product that made some people extremely wealthy to the detriment of a large portion of the population who believed that "science" showed them to be healthier than animal fats.

              • Mad Max on 26/05/2024 - 15:53

                @mrdean: I try to avoid seed oils too, but literally every packaged food has it.
                Bread, crackers, biscuits, canned tuna, sauces, condiments.
                And if you eat in a restaurant seed oil is all they use. Because it is much cheaper than extra virgin olive oil.

                • mrdean on 26/05/2024 - 16:14

                  @Mad Max: Make what you can. Bread is doable (I used to make irish soda bread which is fairly simple-also used to buy sprouted breads), as are sauces/condiments with a bit of effort. Avoid crackers/biscuits/cannedfish, unless you have the money to afford the good quality ones.

                  Can't remember the last time I ate out in a restaurant or got some take-away.

                  • Mad Max on 26/05/2024 - 16:24

                    @mrdean: Yeah I know, but it makes it a very difficult and laborious life. And a bit boring too.
                    I suppose we can't have everything!

                    • mrdean on 26/05/2024 - 16:29
                      +1

                      @Mad Max: I'm not sure I agree. It's about experimenting & being busy! Irish soda bread can be made plain, sweet or savoury. Many options to it. Downside is it's not really sliceable, can't be used for sandwiches like normal bread, but it does make a superb base for a blt+egg+smashed avo plate.

                      Truth be told, I can count on one hand the number of decent products available at supermarkets.

                • mooseca on 26/05/2024 - 18:54

                  @Mad Max: Don't eat packaged food then? Pretty simple.

            • DingoBilly on 26/05/2024 - 16:35

              @Mad Max: I have no idea what you're talking about. I just double checked and nothing I eat has vegetable oil in it. The only source I get is the oil I add myself for cooking dinner in.

              I think this largely comes down to what you eat, and whether it's healthy or not.

          • leiiv on 27/05/2024 - 09:10

            @mrdean: And they even have successfully marginalised the consumer use of palm oil in developed countries. Palm oil has a combination of high saturated fat and high smoke point, one of the highest amongst other vegetable oils.

      • ozhunter on 26/05/2024 - 15:12

        https://gab.com/a/posts/112496221198158383

        here you go

  • JIMB0 on 26/05/2024 - 11:18
    +14

    If you're eating that much KFC I don't think cancer is going to kill you first.

    • SBOB on 26/05/2024 - 11:39
      +24

      My friend said he cleaned and oiled the gun we use for Russian roulette with an oil known to cause cancer… Chat gpt says I should be worried about the oil.

  • Sye on 26/05/2024 - 12:30
    +4

    They said around once in a couple of weeks

    That's probably how they stop us reverse engineering their 11 secret herbs and spices

  • EightImmortals on 26/05/2024 - 13:04
    +2

    Wouldn't it depend on what type of oil they used?

    Oils aint oils after oil.

    If it's tallow (OK it's not) but if it was you can reuse it 3-4 times.

    Seed oils.
    https://www.yahoo.com/news/tests-show-reusing-deep-fry-13285…

    "A team of scientists in India and the US carried out tests on rats and found that animals given food cooked in reheated sesame or sunflower oil "showed increased oxidative stress and inflammation in the liver" as well as "significant damage in the colon."

    As bad as seed oils are (yes I'm aware of the marketing campaign that claims the opposite) KFC goes even lower.

    https://thecookingfacts.com/what-oil-does-kfc-use-to-fry-the…

    "In conclusion, KFC’s secret recipe for their fried chicken is a closely guarded company secret, including the type of oil they use. However, it is widely believed that they use a combination of liquid soybean oil and solid palm oil."

    Reddit chat on frequency of oil changes here: https://www.reddit.com/r/kfc/comments/urwgs2/how_often_does_…

    • SBOB on 26/05/2024 - 13:17

      is a closely guarded company secret,including the type of oil they use. However, it is widely believed that they use a combination of liquid soybean oil and solid palm oil."

      Its really not that closely guarded, as they don't make it in-house. For example, Cargill make KFC oil here in Australia for KFC.

    • trapper on 29/05/2024 - 11:19

      When I worked at KFC the 'oil' came as blocks of white waxy solid. It only becomes a liquid when heated.

  • Mechz on 26/05/2024 - 13:15
    +1

    Dr Karl on the Js told me one Thursday (a few years back) that it's the carcinogens that make meat cooked on the BBQ taste so good.

    KFC somehow always tastes like trash no matter where I buy it from now.

  • payless69 on 26/05/2024 - 13:25

    Frying oil should be handled like condoms.
    2nd go at it, less fun.

    • xrayed giraffe on 26/05/2024 - 18:17
      +3

      Still fun though

    • Minimum chips on 26/05/2024 - 19:42

      If used improperly, you'll have a burning sensation.

      • payless69 on 26/05/2024 - 20:21

        Airfryer to the rescue!

  • mrdean on 26/05/2024 - 13:34
    -4

    In this day & age, anybody still eating out at "restaurants" that don't employ or consult with Pete Evans, needs to get their head examined, stat!

    • Ughhh on 26/05/2024 - 13:52
      +4

      Did you buy his BioCharger?

      • mrdean on 26/05/2024 - 13:57
        -1

        No, but I had a free session at a practitioner's clinic I used to frequent a few years back. Interesting experience! If I was loaded like Evans, I would of bought a few of Karasev's Cosmodic/ENS devices & learnt how to use them. Those Russians know their stuff!

        • Ughhh on 26/05/2024 - 13:58
          +4

          You should buy his Biocharger.

    • gromit on 26/05/2024 - 17:48
      +7

      I assume that was meant as humour. Evans belongs in jail after his scams, anyone involved with him is someone to avoid.

      • mrdean on 26/05/2024 - 17:55

        Evans belongs in jail after his scams,

        Lol.

      • Ughhh on 26/05/2024 - 18:02
        +1

        I forgot to buy groceries for dinner and need to do take out. What's Pete Evans phone number so I can call and ask him if this restaurants chicken dish is ok?

      • try2bhelpful on 26/05/2024 - 18:09

        You can fool some of the people some of the time.

  • Carussell on 26/05/2024 - 14:59
    +27

    Former KFC Area Manager with over 10 years experience.
    Oil from the Collectramatic or Henny Penny Pressure Fryers is supposed to be drained nightly and is filtered using high density filter pads + Diatomaceous Earth mixed into the oil and filtered for a minimum of 20mins.
    The maximum number of uses for the oil in each Collectramatic or Henny Penny is set at 400 head of fried chicken.
    If procedures are followed the oil is still in good condition however it is disposed of and replaced.
    With potato chips and nugget oil this is filtered nightly (as per chicken) but dumped every 5 days, this is due to the very high moisture content of the frozen chips and salt contamination.

    • mrdean on 26/05/2024 - 15:20
      +1

      Where do you reckon all that oil ends up?

    • nfr on 26/05/2024 - 16:21
      +1

      Thanks. That sounds way better than I imagined.

    • Quarter Pounder on 27/05/2024 - 08:37
      +1

      With potato chips and nugget oil this is filtered nightly

      Pretty sure theres also a forced filter every 20 times something is cooked in it. Otherwise the fryer goes into filter lockout. At my store its also filtered in the morning during open

    • aliam on 29/05/2024 - 11:51

      I worked at KFC for a couple of years in the early 90s, and the store I was in was reaonably busy. The pressure cookers had the oil drained and changed very often - certainly wasn't 2 weeks, im pretty sure it was set by the electronics if the cooker on when the oil needed to be drained, the enitre pressure cooker scrubbed clean, and the filter changed.

      This had to be done between cooking cycles, and being down a cooker meant it was harder to keep up with orders. So one got pretty good at doing it quickly and getting used to the heat of the cooker whilst cleaning it. Not a lot of fun on 40 degree days.

      I did find the hygiene standards and protocols were excellent. All food had to be thrown out after a certain time after being cooked, and I never saw exceptions to the rules. Maybe it was just our store but we always got a perfect score from the mystery customers who reviewed the stores for cleanliness, service, and time to service. The boss would give movie tickets to all the staff on a shift if that shift got a report for a perfect score.

  • try2bhelpful on 26/05/2024 - 16:07
    +2

    If you are eating KFC I think cancer from the cooking oil is the least of your problems.

      • try2bhelpful on 26/05/2024 - 16:34
        +12

        The science isn’t on your side. If you look at the history of vaccinations the death tolls have plummeted since they were introduced. Funnily enough not so many dead kids in cemeteries.

          • dtc on 26/05/2024 - 19:13
            +9

            @mrdean: Mostly because of better medical treatment after people caught measles. Still 500 children a year dying and 1000+ with brain damage and 40,000 hospitalised

            But taking a safe vaccine to stop 500 children dying is clearly totes problematic

              • try2bhelpful on 26/05/2024 - 19:49
                +10

                @mrdean: A rational person accepts that vaccinations have caused the mortality and damage rates to have dropped significantly since they started. Frankly it is time you admitted you are wrong and stopped going to the antivaxxer sites.

                I'm not going to some random site that you have found. Get me one from a reputable site and we can talk. There is always some cooked up site that you guys use to try to give yourself some credence.

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