Deep-fried batter food products have recently gained popularity since they are both appetizing and palatable. However, deep-fried food contains high oil content, promoting increasing health concerns of consumers. Oil absorption reduction batter formulae and new types of cooking oil are showing improved customer demand. Coconut oil is gaining interest as a healthy food selection but information comparing coconut oil to palm oil for frying is limited. Effects of oil type and ingredients on the properties of deep-fried batter were investigated. Density of the fried flakes differed slightly between the samples. Flakes fried in coconut oil had lower density, higher oil absorption, and better texture than those fried in palm oil. Addition of whey protein and soluble fiber to the samples increased oil absorption with texture better than the control. Oil absorbed by fried flakes with added whey was greater than those with added fiber, and oil content increased as the amount of whey increased. Results showed that coconut oil was not a good frying medium since high oil content was absorbed into the food pieces. Addition of whey and fiber did not reduce oil uptake but modified the texture of the fried flakes.

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Seeds of Jatropha curcas contain oils, essential amino acids, and toxic phorbols that are found to be carcinogenic. Application of J. curcas seed cake for producing biofertilizer for growing sweet potato was studied in this work. The J. curcas seed cake, soil, and sweet potato were examined to determine the contamination of phorbol esters residue after the plant was treated with J. curcas seed cake fertilizer. Our study develops a technique to confirm the presence of phorbol esters residue by using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry with multiple reaction monitoring mode that detects the ionization of parent molecule with mass 711 to precursor and product ion with mass 311 and 293, respectively. This technique is recommended to confirm phorbol esters residue. The results showed that both sweet potato and soil after harvesting did not have contamination with toxic phorbol esters.