Triacylglycerol in edible oil: Biomarkers for food quality

Abstract

IntroductionEdible lipids consist of plants oils and animal fats that made up the key components of human diet which is important in the sustenance of life. Triacylglycerol (TAG), a subset of lipid, is the major lipid component in human nutrition. Food quality is important especially for Muslims and vegetarians that consume only Halal food and animal free products, respectively. These products include canned and frozen foods, pastry and certain processed beverages that may contain oils or its derivatives. The quality of said foods can easily be compromised by the addition of food additives, such as oils, that do not follow those requirements. ObjectiveTo perform TAG profiling in various oil standards and commercial cooking oils using ultra high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry and to optimize the existing methodology from using a porous-type column to the new core-shell-type column. MethodsThe identification of TAG in various oil standards, commercial cooking oils and marine oils was done by using an established method utilizing a porous C18 1.9 μm column on an ultra pressure liquid chromatography connected to a linear ion trap mass spectrometer with an APCI ion source. The advantages of the core-shell technology were put into test by using a C18 1.7 μm column. Results & DiscussionUnique and characteristic TAGs have been successfully identified in a number of oils samples. For instance in the coconut oil, LOM, MOO, and MLL are examples of unique TAGs. The core-shell column has shortened the total analysis time from 55 minutes to approximately 35 minutes with better peak efficiency and thus improving the resolution. ConclusionUnique TAGs that have been found in various oils have the potential to serve as biomarkers of food quality. The new core-shell column was shown to have several advantages over the porous column.