Posted by Larry Hoover on August 15, 2003, at 5:47:37
In reply to Does fish oil go rancid at 90-100 degrees F? , posted by Chris O on August 14, 2003, at 15:34:08
> I just ordered some Omegabrite fish oilfrom Dr. Stoll's website this week. I have done this many times before, but not when it has been so hot. I live in southern California and my community right now is averaging 90 to 100 degrees per day. When I got my fish oil yesterday, the boxes were quite warm, and I know it had been sitting and baking in a very hot UPS truck all day (my UPS guy comes at the end of the day). My question to anyone: Do these temperatures make the fish oil go bad, or is it safe? The Customer Care people at Omegabrite told me not to worry, that only direct exposure to light would cause problems. Does anyone have any knowledge about this issue? Thanks!
I wouldn't worry about it. Rancidity depends on more than temperature. It needs oxygen, too. Presumably, the seals have not broken on the jars, preventing free exchange of oxygenated air into the bottles. So, the only oxygen available would have to be in the jars already. That oxygen would have been used up before UPS got hold of the product, so there's not much to be concerned about.
Each elevation in temperature of about 10 degrees Celcius (that's 18 Fahrenheit) roughly doubles the rate of a reaction. So, if you *stored* your fish oil at 90 to 100 degrees, it would have perhaps half or less its normal shelf life. Being exposed to a brief period of higher temperatures, in the dark, would have some effect, but it would be trivial, unless you plan to store your fish oil for an extended period.
Light can damage unsaturated fatty acids by a different mechanism. That's one of the purposes of cardboard boxes and dark bottles. Block the light, and you block this other mechanism altogether.
Lar
poster:Larry Hoover
thread:250853
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030812/msgs/250993.html