It is the temperature at which an edible fat or oil begins to decompose. The decomposition process is visible with the presence of smoke to overheat, but what happens internally is that triglycerides are separated into fatty acids and glycerol. Glycerol then becomes an irritating and toxic substance known as acrolein.
The smoke point is considerably higher in fat refined type, therefore, frying fats such as extra virgin olive oil is more a myth, a false belief, no doubt of their health benefits, but to use this type of fat frying is wrong because it loses all its properties.
