What is Rancidity

Answer: Rancidity is also popularly known as rancidification. Rancidity is a state that takes place due to the aerial oxidation of the fats of the unsaturated state that are available in the foods and the various other products that contain flavours that are not pleasant. The conversion into hydroperoxides of the unsaturated compounds takes place when it gets broken down into ketones, esters, hydrocarbons and alcohols. Some of these have an unpleasant smell or odour. Some of the popular examples that we can note here are the turning of oil into a rancid oil due to the decomposition of the fat it owns. At times even the milk turns into a rancid one if not heated when the atmosphere or the climate is humid.  

How does a substance become rancid?

Rancid substances are those food products which own the presence of oil and fatty acids in them. Fats, steroids and cholesterol form a composition that results in fatty acids. The fatty acids are mostly carboxylic acids that have a long aliphatic chain. These, if saturated, own a presence of a single linkage and in the case of unsaturated ones there happens to be the comparison of various linkages between the atoms of carbon.

Factors responsible for rancidity:

Oxygen: One of the major causes for the taking place of rancidity is the exposure of the items of food into the atmosphere where there happens to be an abundance of oxygen.

Physical Factors: Various physical factors like the air, light and heat play a major role in the taking place of the rancidity.

Trace Elements: The couple of trace elements like Fe and Zn also result in an increase in the rate of rancidity.