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Rapid FT-NIR Analysis of Edible Oils for Total SFA, MUFA, PUFA, and Trans FA with Comparison to GC

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of the American Oil Chemists' Society

Abstract

Declarations of the total content of trans fatty acids (FA) and saturated FA (SFA) are mandatory on food labels in the US and Canada. Gas chromatography (GC) has been the method of choice for the determination of FA composition. However, GC is time consuming and requires conversion of fats and oils to their FA methyl esters. In the present study, a recently published Fourier transform near-infrared (FT-NIR) spectroscopic procedure was applied to the rapid (<5 min) determination of total SFA, monounsaturated FA (MUFA), polyunsaturated FA (PUFA), and trans FA contents of 30 commercially available edible fats and oils. Good agreement was obtained between the GC and FT-NIR methods for the determination of total SFA, MUFA, and PUFA contents. Differences between the two methods were apparent for the determination of trans fat at trans fat levels <2 % of total fat. The analytical determinations of total SFA, MUFA, and PUFA contents for many of the oils examined differed from the respective values declared on the product labels. Our findings demonstrate that the FT-NIR procedure serves as a suitable alternative method for the rapid determination of total SFA, MUFA, PUFA and trans FA contents of neat vegetable oils.

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Abbreviations

AOCS:

American Oil Chemist’s Society

ATR-FTIR:

Attenuated total reflection–Fourier transform mid-infrared

CACI-MS/MS:

Covalent adduct chemical ionization tandem mass spectrometry

CLA:

Conjugated linoleic acid

EI-MS:

Electron impact MS

FA:

Fatty acid

FAME:

FA methyl ester

FT-NIR:

Fourier transform near-infrared

GC:

Gas chromatography

MUFA:

Monounsaturated FA

PUFA:

Polyunsaturated FA

SFA:

Saturated FA

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Food and Drug Administration, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Office of Regulatory Science, 5100 Paint Branch Parkway, College Park, MD, 20740, USA

    Magdi M. Mossoba, Cynthia Tyburczy, Pierluigi Delmonte, Ali-Reza Fardin Kia & Jeanne I. Rader

  2. NIR Technologies Inc., Oakville, ON, Canada

    Hormoz Azizian

  3. Guelph Food Research Center, Agri-food Canada, Guelph, ON, Canada

    John K. G. Kramer

Authors
  1. Magdi M. Mossoba
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  2. Hormoz Azizian
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  3. Cynthia Tyburczy
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  4. John K. G. Kramer
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  5. Pierluigi Delmonte
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  6. Ali-Reza Fardin Kia
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  7. Jeanne I. Rader
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Magdi M. Mossoba.

Additional information

M.M. Mossoba and H. Azizian contributed equally to this study.

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Mossoba, M.M., Azizian, H., Tyburczy, C. et al. Rapid FT-NIR Analysis of Edible Oils for Total SFA, MUFA, PUFA, and Trans FA with Comparison to GC. J Am Oil Chem Soc 90, 757–770 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11746-013-2234-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11746-013-2234-z

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