Analytical methods and quality assurance

Abstract The quality of dietary fats and oils primarily depends on their fatty acid composition which historically has been assayed using gas chromatography. During the past two decades High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) has emerged as a preferred analytical technique. However, the use of HPLC for assaying fatty acids lagged behind due to the lack of suitable chromophores which made their detection more difficult. Therefore, the fatty acids must be derivatized into different products to facilitate detection. This paper reports the results of a study that was undertaken to develop and standardize a simple HPLC method for the routine assay of fatty acids in seed oils. The bromophenacyl reaction of fatty acid derivatization was chosen and the resulting products were successfully separated on a C8 reverse‐phase column using binary gradient elution with acetonitrile and water. The use of a Cl 8 reverse phase column was found to be unnecessary and undesirable.