Determination of polymerized triglycerides in frying fats and oils by gel permeation chromatography: interlaboratory...

An interlaboratory study of the gel permeation chromatographic (GPC) determination of polymerized triglycerides (PTG) in frying fats and oils was conducted by the Project Group on Collaborative Studies (PCS) of the Inspectorate for Health Protection, Food Inspection Service, The Netherlands. Thirteen laboratories participated in this study, which was focused on thermally abused oil and fat samples containing dimerized and polymerized triglycerides at levels just below and far above the Dutch regulatory limit of 16% (m/m). Samples were dissolved in tetrahydrofuran (THF) and analyzed on a GPC system, using THF as the mobile phase. Refractive index (RI) detection was used to determine PTG. Six heat-processed fat samples containing from 14 to 28% (m/m) PTG at 3 different levels (3 pairs of split level samples) were single analyzed according to the proposed procedure. Data analysis was performed according to the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry/International Organization for Standardization/AOAC protocols for statistics. The results of 2 collaborators were identified as outliers at the 20% (m/m) PTG level by applying the paired Grubbs test at the 1% level of significance. The repeatability relative standard deviation (RSDr) values ranged from 0.48 to 2.25%, whereas the reproducibility relative standard deviation (RSDR) values ranged from 1.34 to 4.57%.