scope:

This Technical Specification describes the procedure for the capillary gas chromatographic determination of the qualitative and semi-quantitative composition of individual triglycerides of fats, oils, and fat mixtures. The separation of the triglycerides is based on their retention depending on the carbon number of the fatty acids in the triglycerides and their degree of unsaturation.

This Technical Specification is applicable to animal and vegetable fats, as well as to mixtures of natural and synthetic triglycerides, as long as

- the oil fatty acid composition does not contain high content of linolenic acid such as linseed oil and

- the total chain length does not exceed a total carbon number of C60.

NOTE If quantitative results are expected, the response factors of several triglycerides have to be checked as the increase of the triglyceride unsaturation reduces the sensitivity.