Skip to main content
ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #126977

Title: TRIACYLGLYCEROL STRUCTURE OF ANIMAL TALLOWS, POTENTIAL FOOD FORMULATION FATS, BY HIGH PERFORMANCE LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY COUPLED WITH MASS SPECTROMETRY

Author
item Neff, William
item BYRDWELL, WILLIAM - FL ATL UNIV,BOCA RATON,FL
item Steidley, Kevin
item List, Gary
item SNOWDER, G - USDA, ARS, DUBOIS, ID

Submitted to: Journal of Liquid Chromatography and Related Technologies
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/30/2001
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Amounts and types of the components called triglycerides of the fat portion of food formulation products are important. The triglycerides of the fat portion have an important effect on melting range, stability and texture of the finished food product. Also, the triglycerides are important for nutritional and health value. We presented in this work a technique to learn about the amounts and types of these triglycerides. This technique is called high- performance liquid chromatography, which separates the different triglycerides based on the length and unsaturation of the fatty acids they contain. After separation, the amounts and identities of the triglycerides can be determined as they are passed through a detector called a quadrupole mass spectrometer equipped with a device called an atmospheric chemical ionization source. This is a new method, which determines accurately the triglyceride composition of fats with highly saturated fatty acid triglycerides such as animal tallows used in food products.

Technical Abstract: Triacylglycerol (TAG) compositions as mole percent were obtained by reverse phase-high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC/APCI-MS) coupled with atmospheric pressure chemical ionization mass spectrometry of lard and mutton tallow fractions under consideration for food formulation products. Accurate identification and quantization of these TAG compositions were obtained and proved by comparison of the fatty acid composition calculated from the TAG composition obtained by APCI-MS with the fatty acid composition, converted to mole percent, obtained by gas chromatography of the methyl esters of the transmethylated oils. Average absolute errors with respect to TAG quantization and identification were less than one percent. Our study identified and quantitated the TAG equal to and greater than 0.1 % concentration. Concentration of TAG with various fatty unsaturated (U) and saturated (S) fatty acids with TAG, designated as these species UUU, UUS, USS and SSS, can be determined accurately from RP-HPLC/APCI-MS of the actual TAG species. These TAG species UUU, UUS, USS and SSS affect the physical properties of food formulation fats.