Question:

Rancidity of oil is detected by:

Updated On: Jul 14, 2026
  • Saponification value
  • Iodine value
  • Peroxide value
  • Acid value
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The Correct Option is C

Approach Solution - 1

The correct option is (C): Peroxide value.
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Approach Solution -2

The question asks which chemical test is used to detect rancidity in oils. Let's check each value against what it actually measures.

  1. Saponification value: This value measures the average molecular weight of the fatty acids in an oil by quantifying how much alkali is needed to hydrolyze its ester bonds. It describes the fat's composition, not whether it has started to oxidize and turn rancid.
  2. Iodine value: Iodine value measures the degree of unsaturation in an oil by quantifying how much iodine adds across its double bonds. A higher degree of unsaturation makes an oil more prone to eventually going rancid, but the iodine value itself does not measure whether rancidity has actually occurred.
  3. Peroxide value: Rancidity in fats and oils develops mainly through autoxidation, where atmospheric oxygen reacts with unsaturated fatty acid chains to form hydroperoxides as the first breakdown products. The peroxide value directly measures the concentration of these hydroperoxides, making it the standard, direct indicator of how far oxidative rancidity has progressed.
  4. Acid value: Acid value measures the amount of free fatty acids present, which rises mainly from hydrolytic breakdown of triglycerides, hydrolytic rancidity, rather than from the oxidative rancidity that peroxide value is specifically designed to track.

Only the peroxide value directly tracks the hydroperoxide breakdown products that oxidative rancidity actually produces.

The correct answer is Peroxide value.

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