Validation and application of a gas chromatographic method for determining fatty acids and trans fats in some bakery products

AbstractAbsolute accuracy is needed when analyzing the fatty acid (FA) and trans fatty acid (TFA) in fats and food products because of their nutritional and health implications. Thus, A gas chromatographic method for the identification and quantification of FAs and TFAs based on the extraction of lipids and derivatization using base catalyzed followed by (trimethylsilyl)diazomethane (TMS-DM) was developed and validated. The proposed method was evaluated to a number of standard FAs including TFAs and five of bakery products commercially available in Malaysian market (biscuit, cooker, cracker, cake, and bread) were used for that purpose and to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed method. In this regard, response linearity, sensitivity, precision and accuracy were all determined. Overall, the method was found to allow sensitive and accurate determination of different types of FAs and TFAs. Furthermore, R-values from all the samples were revealed to be close to 100%, repeatability (intra-day RSD) ranged between 0.98% and 3.61%, and reproducibility (inter-day RSD) values ranged between 1.24% and 4.18%. Thus, the procedure could be an accurate, precise and reliable method for analyzing FAs in several samples of dietary fat in bakery products