Rapid MS method for analysis of cocoa butter TAG

Abstract

AbstractAmmonia negative ion CI‐MS was applied to analyze the M.W. distribution and regioisomeric structure of TAG in cocoa butter and in cocoa butter equivalents. The M.W. distribution results obtained for a reference cocoa butter were consistent with corresponding results obtained in an intercomparison study by chromatographic methods. Minor but statistically significant differences were observed when proportions of the three major M.W. species (52∶1, 54∶1, and 50∶1; acyl carbon number/number of double bonds) in a mixture of nine cocoa butters and in mixtures containing 10 or 20% (w/w) of specific cocoa butter equivalents were compared. Tandem MS was used to determine the regioisomeric structure of the three major TAG M.W. species in cocoa butter and in cocoa butter equivalents. The regioisomeric structure in cocoa butter and in all the equivalents analyzed were nearly identical, oleic acid being located primarily in the sn‐2 position. These results cannot be exploited in detecting added foreign fats in this case. However, the present study shows that useful TAG composition data, which may be used to detect foreign fats in cocoa butter by applying chemometric data evaluation, can be obtained by MS in a significantly shorter time compared to chromatographic methods.