Fish oil (FO) products constitute good sources of omega-3 fats. Oxidation data from a large third-party database of 1900 + globally-sourced FO samples were assessed. In FO products, for peroxide value (PV), 13.9% exceeded 5 mEq O2/kg (2.2% >10); for acid value (AcV) 2.1% exceeded 3 mg KOH/g, while for p-anisidine value (pAV) in unflavoured oils, 6.1% exceeded 20, (3.8% >30), and 8.8% exceeded TOTOX limits (26). Additionally, we compared FO with other dietary oils. The FO median PV was similar to those of algal and sunflower oils, 4.8-fold greater than krill oil, and 5.2-fold less than extra-virgin olive oil. The median pAV differed non-significantly among oils. The FO median AcV was similar to those of algal and extra-virgin olive oils, 3.4-fold greater than sunflower oil, and 11.9-fold less than krill oil. This study has provided new insight that retail FO products predominantly meet regulatory guidelines and are comparable in oxidative status to other dietary oils.
Keywords: Algal oil; Extra-virgin olive oil; Fish oil; Krill oil; Omega-3 fatty acids; Oxidation; Sunflower oil; Vegetable oil.
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