Abstract
Lard is defined as animal fat acquired from the adipose tissue of pigs and is not permitted for human consumption or external use by certain religions such as Islam and Judaism. Due to its low-cost availability for commercial use, it is often mixed with other vegetable oils mistakenly or deliberately and causes loss of consumer trust; hence, its detection in food products is essential. Consumers tend to know the authenticity of commercially available edible oils. However, edible oils are subjected to adulteration risks with lard, which breaches consumer rights. In the present study, we designed a transmission Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR)-based method for the rapid detection of lard in sunflower, canola, coconut, olive, and mustard oils. For this purpose, the selected oils were adulterated with lard in different concentration ratios (10:0, 9:1, 7:3, 6:4, 4:6, 3:7, 0:10). A single calibration model was developed for 35 standards (seven standards from each individual five oils) in the frequency range between 1078.01 and 1246.75 cm$^{-1}$ to determine the relationship between actual adulterant concentration and FT-IR predicted concentrations using a partial least squares (PLS) method. The results of the present study indicated that FT-IR in combination with PLS has the potential to evaluate adulteration of edible oils with lard through single calibration as a rapid, nondestructive, and effective alternative method.
Highlights
The credibility and transparency of vegetable oils available in the market is an important topic of concern for consumers [1]
A minor difference is noticeable in the height of peaks present in the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) spectral region between 1130 and 1090 cm −1 [33]
FT-IR along with partial least squares (PLS) multivariate calibration proved to be an accurate technique for detecting and quantifying the amount of lard mixed with sunflower, canola, coconut, olive, and mustard oil
Summary
The credibility and transparency of vegetable oils available in the market is an important topic of concern for consumers [1]. Good quality oils and many phenolic compounds play important roles in lowering plasma cholesterol levels of consumers [2]. Vegetable oils consist of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids and fats along with plenty of saturated fatty acids. The industrial use of lard along with vegetable oils is commonly practiced for producing shortenings, margarines with a specific solid content profile, for taste enhancements and introducing unique textural properties in several food products [4,5,6]. The food industry needs a quick, robust, reliable, and applicable method for the assurance of pure edible oils without any mixing of a contaminant, e.g., lard, to maintain consistent product quality [7].
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