APPLICATION OF GLC TECHNIQUE FOR CHARACTERIZATION OF LARD-BEEF TALLOW MIXTURES

Concerning the fatty acid composition of experimented standard mixtures of lard and beef tallow, the data revealed that there was a slight insignificant decrease in C14:1, C16:0 and C18:2 in the triglycerides as the percent of lared increased, while there was a gradual significant increase in palmitic acid (C16:0) in B monoglycerides with the increment of lard percentage. On the other hand, there was a gradual decrease in stearic acid (C18:0), oleic acid (C18:1), linoleic acid (C18:2) and linolenic acid (C18:3) in B-monoglycerides as the lard percentage was increased. The palmitic acid enrichment factor was markedly increased as the percent of lard increased. It is always above 2.0 in lard, while it is lower than 0.85 in beef tallow. Furthermore, it is evident that lard is easily detectable if it is present at the rate of 3% or more in beef tallow, whereas the unsaturation ratio was gradually decreased as the percentage of lard was increased. This ratio was 1.4 or more in animal fats, while it reached 0.5 or less in lard. Moreover, a decrease of the unsaturation ratio to 1.01 may indicate the presence of lard at 9% or more in beef tallow mixtures. The total C16/ total C18 fatty acids ratio revealed that the addition of lard to beef tallow resulted in a rather increase in this ratio. An increase to above 0.54 may indicate the presence of lard at the level 9% or more. The saturated/unsaturated fatty acids ratio showed gradually increase with the increment of lard percentage.