Determination of physicochemical properties, heavy metals and aflatoxin Contents in sesame oil: A review

In this study, we searched the articles on determining the physico-chemical properties of sesame oil and heavy metals and aflatoxin whitout geographic restriction from the Google Scholar, PubMed, Science Direct and Sid databases and presented their results in the text. Characteristics such as iodine number and fatty acid profile of sesame oil indicate that this oil is highly unsaturated and the most important unsaturated fatty acids are oleic acid and linoleic acid and contains about 80 to 84 percent fatty acids in sesame oil. The main properties of sesame oil are resistance to oxidative damage, despite the fact that the unsaturated fatty acid content of this oil is high. Oxidative stability of sesame oil is due to the presence of gamma-tocopherol, lignans and antioxidants such as sesamol, sesamin and sesamolin. The amount total of aflatoxin in the studied articles was less than the EU limit (20 μg / kg), except studies of Amin et al. (2010), that total aflatoxin level was higher than the EU limit (20 μg / kg). In these studies, arsenic and lead levels below the limit set by the Union Europe (0.1 mg per kg). Also, the level of copper and iron was below the national standard level of Iran (0.4 and 5 mg / kg). Considering the desirable characteristics of sesame oil and its high degree unsaturation, In the case of heavy metals, aflatoxin is monitored continuously it is a suitable vegetable oil for human consumption.