Undeclared lard in confectionary products is a significant concern for consumers in many parts of the world who avoid pork on religious grounds.
This study (GBP30 download fee) used gas chromatography with flame ionization detection (GC–FID) to measure fatty acids, then principal component analysis (PCA) to detect porcine fatty acid biomarkers in imported chocolates and biscuits.
The authors report that total fat content ranged from 11.5 to 32.5%, with palm kernel-based chocolates enriched in lauric (42–52%) and myristic acids (18–20%), while other chocolates were dominated by palmitic, stearic, and oleic acids. Biscuits contained high proportions of palmitic and oleic acids (> 75%).
PCA of the complete fatty acid dataset separated lard-adulterated samples.. Targeted PCA using porcine biomarkers palmitic-to-oleic acid ratio and eicosadienoic acid confirmed this clustering.
Calibration using simulated lard–palm oil mixtures (0–15% w/w; five replicates per level) enabled quantitative estimation of lard .
Photo by Pawel Czerwinski on Unsplash
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