Comparative appraisal of ghee and common vegetable oils for spectral characteristics in FT-MIR reflectance spectroscopy.

Abstract

FT-MIR spectra of ghee (anhydrous milk fat) and common vegetable oils were acquired using HATR in 4000-650cm-1 region. The differences in absorbance by carbon-hydrogen (C-H) stretch in fatty acid chain at 3.48μm and absorbance by carbonyl (C-O) stretch of ester linkage at 5.7μm in ghee and that in vegetable oils were studied. The clear differences in the spectra of ghee and that of the vegetable oils were noticed in fingerprint region, which can be very well utilized to develop FT-MIR spectroscopy as a promising tool to detect presence of common vegetable oils mixed in the ghee as an adulterant.