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Total Fat Quantification of Grass-Fed vs Conventional Grain-Fed Cattle Taya Smith, 4th year |
Abstract
Health-conscious consumers are becoming increasingly concerned with the amount of fat present in foods. The current trend towards “low fat” foods can be found in any grocery store across the country. Microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) has been proposed as a more efficient method of determining total fat content.
MAE not only reduces the time needed to determine total fat content but also results in similar yields as the current reference method for total fat determination. The objective of this study was to develop MAE methodology for beef and to quantify the total lipid content in Red Angus and Angus Akaushi beef fed varying diets. 0.5±0.02g of beef was placed into a vessel containing 10mL solution 1:1 hexane/acetone. Extraction parameters were programmed to run at a max power of 1200W, temperature ramped at 5°C/min to 80°C and held constant for 15 minutes followed by an automatic cooling period. Samples were filtered into a flask and allowed to evaporate overnight to obtain final weight for total fat determination.
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