This Application Note describes the extraction of fat from a variety of dried milk products. The samples range from very low-fat products such as skim milk powder to very high-fat products such as cream powder. The extraction of fat from these matrices is rapid and the results are equivalent to the referenced traditional methods.

This application note describes an accelerated solvent extraction method for determining the amount of fat in meat samples. The method provides a rapid means of extracting fat from all of the types of meat investigated. Fresh or processed meat, as well as high- and low-fat meat products can be extracted with accelerated solvent extraction very easily. The details of the accelerated solvent meat extraction method and how it compares with the traditional Soxhlet method are presented in this application note.

ASE is an extraction technique that utilizes elevated temperature and pressure to expedite the removal of analytes from various matrices. It has been accepted by the U.S. EPA as Method 3545 for environmental samples, and it has been applied to other sample extraction areas. The procedures described in this application note apply to the determination of fat content in various solid or semisolid foods such as snack foods and dog biscuits.

The U.S. Nutritional Labeling and Education Act of 1990 requires nutritional labels listing the content of saturated and unsaturated fats in food. Accurate determination of fat in certain foods is difficult due to the binding or entrapment of the fat by the matrix. Accelerated Solvent Extraction (ASE) is an automated extraction technique that significantly reduces extraction time and solvent consumption and yields equivalent results. In this work, fat was extracted from sour cream, cream cheese, coffee creamer, heavy whipping cream, and low-fat milk.

As a result of the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act (NLEA) enacted in 1990, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (U.S. FDA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (U.S.D.A.) require that the nutritional content of processed and packaged food is declared on the product label. This application updates AN 321 and demonstrates the fast and simple gravimetric determinations of total unbound fat in snack foods using the Dionex ASE 350 system combined with the Rocket Evaporator.