c




 

O Ê Ghee is adulterated with substances like vanaspati, mashed potato, sweet potato,
and other starches Presence of starch in ghee can be identified by iodine test Boil
5ml of sample Cool it and add a drop of iodine to it If blue color appears it
indicates the presence of starch Color disappears on boiling and reappears on
cooling

Ê For the detection of vanaspati take equal quantities of melted ghee and Conc
Cl
To this add a pinch of cane sugar Shake well for O min and test it after 5min
Appearance of crimson color in lower layer shows the presence of vanaspati Ê
Ê
Ô Ê Estimation of free fatty acids

A small quantity of free fatty acids is usually present in oils along with the
triglycerides The free fatty acid content is known as acid number/acid value It
increases during storage The keeping quality of oil therefore relies upon the free
fatty acid content

’rinciple
The free fatty acid in oil is estimated by titrating it against KO
in the presence of
phenolphthalein indicator The acid number is defined as the mg KO
required to
neutralize the free fatty acids present in Og of sample
owever, the free fatty acid
content is expressed as oleic acid equivalents

Materials
Ä O phenolphthalein in 95 ethanol
Ä 0 O potassium hydroxide
Ä eutral Solvent: Mix 25mL ether, 25mL 95 alcohol and OmL of O
phenolphthalein solution and neutralize with /O0 alkali

Procedure
O Dissolve OO0g of oil or melted fat in 50mL of the standard solvent in a 250mL
conical flask
2 Add a few drops of phenolphthalein
Ô Titrate the contents against 0 O potassium hydroxide
4 Shake constantly until a pink color which persists for fifteen seconds is obtained
alculation

Acid value (mg Titrate value x ormality of

KO
/g) = KO
x 56 O
Weight of sample (g)

The free fatty acid is calculated as oleic acid using the equation
OmL /O0 KO
= 0 028g oleic acid

ote
To find out the exact strength of KO
, prepare 0 O oxalic acid solution (6Ô0mg in
O00mL water) and titrate against KO
with phenolphthalein as indicator
Calculate the strength of KO
by the formula VOO = V22

References

O Cox
E and Pearson, D (O962) The Chemical Analysis of Foods Chemical

Publishing Co Inc ew York p 420

 emical titration met ods

Fatty acid concentrations equal or higher than O mM may be easily determined by
titrimetry even in the presence of other lipids Titrimetry was classically used to
determine the acid value (free fatty content) of vegetable oils and fats This acid
value is defined as the number of mg of KO
required to neutralize the fatty acids
contained in O g of the fat It is very easy to express the results in other units as mg
fatty acids per g of sample or mmoles per Kg
Macro-met od
Reagents:
solvent mixture (95 ethanol/diethyl ether, O/O, v/v) 0 O M KO
in ethanol
accurately standardized with 0 O M
Cl (pure ethanol may be also used if aqueous
samples are analyzed), O  phenolphthalein in 95 ethanol
Procedure:

Weigh 0 O to O0 g of oil or fat (according to the expected acid value) in glass vial
 and dissolve in at least 50 ml of the solvent mixture (if necessary by gentle
heating)
Titrate, with shaking, with the KO
solution (in a 25 ml burette graduated in 0 O
ml) to the end point of the indicator (5 drops of indicator), the pink color persisting
for at least O0 s
The acid value is calculated by the formula: 56 O x  x V / M
where V is the number of ml of KO
solution used and  his exact normality, M is
the mass in g of the sample
Other expressions can be easily calculated (concentration of fatty acids or their
weight, considering an average molecular weight of 282)

A nonaqueous flow injection titrimetric method has been described for the
determination of free fatty acids in vegetal oil samples even with a background
colour (Saad B et al , Food Chem 2007, O02, O407)