Determination of Total Dietary Fiber in Foods and Products with Little or No Starch, Nonenzymatic-Gravimetric Method: Collaborative Study

Abstract

A collaborative study was conducted to validate a nonenzymatic-gravimetric method for the determination of total dietary fiber (TDF) of samples containing little or no starch such as most fruits, and vegetables and many purified polysaccharides. This simple procedure involves suspension of freeze-dried, ground samples in deionized water and incubation at 37 degrees C for 90 min, followed by precipitation with 4 volumes of 95% ethanol. The weight of the dilute alcohol-insoluble residues after correcting for crude protein and ash corresponds to the TDF content of the sample. Six samples in blind duplicate (apples, apricots, cabbage, carrots, onions, and soy fiber) were sent with Celite to 10 laboratories. The reproducibility relative standard deviation (RSDR) of the TDF values for 9 laboratories ranged from 2.92 to 6.25%. The repeatability standard deviation (RSDr) for the 9 laboratories ranged from 1.50 to 2.70%. The method has been adopted first action by AOAC INTERNATIONAL.