GC-MS quantification of fatty acid profile including trans FA in the locally manufactured margarines of Pakistan

Aftab Kandhro; S T H Sherazi; S A Mahesar; M I Bhanger; M Younis Talpur; Abdul Rauf

doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2007.12.029

GC-MS quantification of fatty acid profile including trans FA in the locally manufactured margarines of Pakistan

Food Chem. 2008 Jul 1;109(1):207-11. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2007.12.029. Epub 2007 Dec 23.

Authors

Aftab Kandhro¹, S T H Sherazi², S A Mahesar¹, M I Bhanger¹, M Younis Talpur¹, Abdul Rauf¹

Affiliations

¹ National Center of Excellence in Analytical Chemistry, University of Sindh, Jamshoro 76080, Pakistan.
² National Center of Excellence in Analytical Chemistry, University of Sindh, Jamshoro 76080, Pakistan. Electronic address: tufail_sherazi@yahoo.com.

PMID: 26054282
DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2007.12.029

Abstract

Ten margarine brands of Pakistan were analyzed for their fatty acid composition with emphasis on trans fatty acids (TFA) using GC-MS. Saturated, cis-monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids were present at 24.2-58.1, 5.7-35.4 and 3.8-37.4% of total fatty acids, respectively. Among the saturated fatty acids, palmitic acid (16.9-33.8%) was dominant in all analyzed margarine brands and its higher amount indicates that palm oil was a major contributor in the margarine manufacturing. Among samples tested only one contained a low level of TFA (2.2%) while the rest contained very high amounts of TFA (11.5-34.8%) which clearly shows that hydrogenated oils were used in the formulation of margarines. Fatty acid profiles demonstrated that all samples belong to the hard margarine category containing high amounts of trans and saturated fatty acids which is an alarming issue for the health of consumers.

Keywords: Fatty acid profile; GC-MS; Margarine; Trans fatty acids.