The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ruled that partially hydrogenated oils (PHO), the major dietary source of industrially produced trans fat (TF), were no longer "generally recognized as safe (GRAS)" for any use in human food. Consequently, the objective of this study was to develop a rapid screening procedure using attenuated total reflection Fourier-transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy in conjunction with partial least squares regression (PLSR) for the quantitative and accurate prediction of low concentrations of trans fatty acid (TFAs) (<1% of total fatty acids (FAs)). Broad-based calibration models were developed for a combined set of samples consisting of edible oils and fast food lipid extracts. Predicted concentrations of TFAs in the two matrices showed good correlation with the primary reference data generated by gas chromatography (GC) (R2 > 0.99) and high accuracy as evidenced by low root-mean-square error of cross-validation (RMSECV) values. The lowest TFA concentration, determined by GC to be 0.13% of total FAs, was accurately predicted by ATR-FTIR/PLSR as 0.18% of total FAs. This simple, rapid ATR-FTIR/PLSR methodology has the potential for use as a screening alternative to conventional gas chromatographic methods for predicting the TFA content of edible oils and food lipid extracts for regulatory purposes and quality control of raw material and processed food.
Practical applications: FDA ruled that partially hydrogenated oils were no longer "generally recognized as safe (GRAS)" for any use in human food. Consequently, we have proposed a rapid screening procedure, based on infrared spectroscopy and chemometrics, to rapidly and accurately predict low concentrations of trans fatty acids (<1% of total fatty acids) in edible oils and food lipid extracts.
Keywords: chemometrics; edible oils; fast foods; infrared spectroscopy; trans fat.
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