Evaluation of low trans fat edible oils by attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and gas chromatography: a comparison of analytical approaches

Current interest by the food industry in exploring reformulation options that lower the content of trans fat in edible fats and oils requires methods to accurately measure low levels of trans fat. In the present study, the quantitation of trans fat in 25 edible fat and oil samples was evaluated using two current analytical approaches, attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), and gas chromatography with flame ionization detection (GC-FID) according to Official Methods of the American Oil Chemists’ Society. Significant differences between the ATR-FTIR and reference GC-FID quantitations were found for samples with a trans fat content <2% of total fat. These discrepancies could be explained, in part, by the presence of certain oil constituents (e.g., vitamins, carotenoids, high levels of saturated fat) that produced absorbance bands at or near 966 cm−1 in the ATR-FTIR spectra, a region that was previously identified as being characteristic of isolated trans double bonds. Results demonstrate that the natural content of such oil constituents could result in significant overestimations of trans fat when ATR-FTIR is used to analyze edible fats and oils with a trans fat content <2% of total fat.