The possibilities of assessment of free fatty acids

This thesis deals with the determination of free fatty acids in natural and processed cheese. In the theoretical part the possibilities of extraction, fractionation and determination of lipid fractions, characterization of fatty acids and various methods of their determination are described, including the determination of free fatty acids. In the experimental part the selected method for determination of free fatty acids was optimized and partly validated; this method was then applied to samples of processed cheese analogues and natural Gouda type cheese. For extraction of lipids from the sample the method according to ČSN 0107 was selected, solid phase extraction (SPE) was used for separation of free fatty acids. The method according to ČSN EN ISO 5509, using methanol solution of potassium hydroxide, was applied for esterification, fatty acids methyl esters were determined by gas chromatography with FID detection