Fats and oils play an essential role in the human diet and they have the important quality of improving the palatability of foods. Because of this they are used in a great variety of foods : these uses demand widely varying properties e.g  in crystallization and melting behaviour. The main component of oils and fats is the triglycerides whereby the physical nature of the oil or fat is determined by :

• the chain length of the fatty acids in the triglycerides
• the degree of unsaturation of the fatty acids
• the distribution of the fatty acids in the triglyceride molecules

Main Researcher: Teah Yau Kun