Study on the Quality of Tea oil seed (Camellia oleifera) and Tea Oil

Abstract

Tea oil produced from seed of Camellia oleifera, which can be used as healthy cooking oil and also as raw materials for cosmetic products. Recently, tea oil has been commercially launched to domestic market in Thailand. However, standard qualities had
not yet been established. This study aimed to prepare data base for Thai standard in the future and was performed at Postharvest and Processing Research and Development Division in 2013. The black, brown and yellowish-brown seeds from the experimental
plots of The Chaipattana Foundation, Chiang rai province were harvested and analyzed to
find out basic compositions which are moisture content, oil content, protein content and
crude fiber content. It was shown that black seeds gave better quality due to highest oil content (22.77%) and lowest moisture content (2.58%). After analysis of tea oil the results showed that oil from fresh harvest seeds presented better qualities due to low acid value (4.94 mgkoH/g) and peroxide value (0.97 meq/kg) comparing with aged seeds. In addition, domestic and imported tea oil were sampling to analyze physical and chemical properties as well as nutrition facts. High amount of oleic acid was found in both domestic (9.21-74.88%) and imported (7.07%) tea oil. Using TISI standard for “oil and edible fat” along with CODEX standard of olive oil as bench-mark, it was shown that they complied the requirements of both standards. These information can be proposed to guide a specific draft national standard for tea oil.