Number of eggs in egg-noodles

The official method to determine the number of eggs present in egg-noodles is the digitonin method. By applying this method the total content of sterols is determined and expressed as total sterols. The official method is time consuming, not very accurate and its performance is very complicated. Its results are not very reliable either because the composition of the wheat is not considered. In this paper some markers are proposed to verify the correct ratio between eggs and triticum durum (TD) semolina used to prepare egg-noodles. Markers are selected ratios between sterols and FAME. The lipid extract is trans-esterified and injected into a gas chromatograph. The ratio between the areas of the selected components gives the markers. This method is proposed to substitute or alternate the official method because is more accurate and time saving.