Influence of Temperature and Light Exposure on Sensory Shelf‐life of a Commercial Sunflower Oil

The objectives of the present work were to: (1) correlate consumer acceptability measured with a consumer panel versus oxidized flavor measured with a trained sensory panel to thus define the sensory failure of a commercial sunflower oil; and (2) study the effect of storage temperature and light exposure on the sensory shelf‐life of sunflower oil bottled in polyethylene tetraphtalate (PET) with nitrogen in the headspace. Of the consumers, 15% unexpectedly preferred the more oxidized oil samples than the fresh ones. Their data were not considered in sensory failure calculations. By correlating the consumer data with the trained sensory panel data, a sensory failure point of 3.6 on a 0 to 10 oxidation flavor scale was obtained. Both storage temperature and exposure to light had a significant effect on shelf‐life. Estimated shelf‐lives at an ambient temperature of 20C were 281 days for light exposed oil, and greater than 2 years for oil kept in the dark.