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Detection and quantification of palmolein and palm kernel oil added as adulterant in coconut oil based on triacylglycerol profile

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Abstract

Economically motivated adulteration of expensive coconut oil with low cost oil, like palm kernel oil and palmolein is difficult to detect and quantify by available methods primarily due to their overlapping physicochemical properties with coconut oil. In the present work, a HPLC method has been developed to detect and quantify the degree of adulteration of coconut oil with palmolein and palm kernel oil based on triglyceride structure. The normalized area percentage of trilaurin (C36) among the three major TAG molecular species dilaurin-monocaprin/myristin-caprylin-laurin (C34), trilaurin (C36) and dilaurin-monomyristin (C38) of coconut oil was chosen as detection index for quantifying degree of adulteration of coconut oil with palm kernel oil, while the area ratio of dipalmitoyl-monoolein: trilaurin was chosen as detection index for quantifying adulteration of coconut oil with palmolein. The RP-HPLC based method developed in the present work is effective with a 2–4% minimum detection limit of adulterant oils and 78–98% detection accuracy depending on the degree of adulteration and types of oil.

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Abbreviations

TAG:

Triacylglycerol

LaLaLa:

Trilaurin

CCC:

Tricaprin

CyCyCy:

Tricaprylin

MMM:

Trimyristin

PPP:

Tripalmitin

LaMLa:

Dilaurin-monomyristin

LaCLa:

Dilaurin-monocaprin

MCyLa:

Myristin-caprylin-laurin

POP:

Dipalmitin-monoolein

POO:

Diolein-monopalmitin

ECN:

Equivalent carbon number

CNO:

Coconut oil

VCNO:

Virgin coconut oil

PKL:

Palm kernel oil

PML:

Palmolein

FAME:

Fatty acid methyl esters

CRM:

Certified reference material

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Acknowledgements

The research work was carried out with the financial grant received from Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI), Government of India (No. 75/R&D/Adulteration in Edible Oil/RARD/2016-FSSAI). We thank Director, CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology for the support (IICT/Pubs./2019/325).

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  1. Centre for Lipid Science and Technology, CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Uppal Road, Tarnaka, Hyderabad, 500007, India

    Akhil Chandrakanth Komaram, Enti Anjaneyulu, Karabi Goswami, Rati Ranjan Nayak & Sanjit Kanjilal

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  1. Akhil Chandrakanth Komaram
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  2. Enti Anjaneyulu
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Komaram, A.C., Anjaneyulu, E., Goswami, K. et al. Detection and quantification of palmolein and palm kernel oil added as adulterant in coconut oil based on triacylglycerol profile. J Food Sci Technol 58, 4420–4428 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13197-020-04927-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13197-020-04927-z

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