Question:medium

The undesirable components which need to be removed during refining of crude vegetable oils include:
(A) Colouring and odouring matters
(B) Free fatty acids
(C) Gums
(D) Waxes
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:

Show Hint

Think about the full sequence of refining steps, degumming, neutralising, bleaching, deodorising and dewaxing, and what each one takes out.
  • (A) and (C) only.
  • (A), (B), (C) and (D).
  • (A) and (D) only.
  • (A), (C) and (D) only.
Show Solution

The Correct Option is B

Solution and Explanation

Instead of listing steps, check each item against what raw, unrefined vegetable oil actually contains.
Crude oil straight from the expeller or solvent extractor carries gums and phospholipids left from the seed's cell membranes, free fatty acids formed by natural breakdown of triglycerides, natural pigments and smelly volatile compounds from the seed itself, and waxy esters from the seed coat. Every one of these makes the oil cloudy, unstable in storage, or unpleasant to consume.
Refining exists precisely to strip out each of these four groups one by one, gums through degumming, free fatty acids through neutralising, colour and odour through bleaching and deodorising, and waxes through winterising.
Since none of the four listed items, (A), (B), (C), (D), can be skipped without leaving the oil substandard, all four belong on the list.
\[ \text{Removed items} = A,\ B,\ C,\ D \]
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