23 PHYSICO-CHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF GHEE AS PER FSSAI AND AGMARK PARAMANERS Darshan Lal, Raman Seth, Neelam Upadhyay, Kamal Gandhi and Ashok D. Aghav Dairy Chemistry Division National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal-132001, Haryana Introduction Ghee means the pure clarified fat derived solely from milk or curd or from desi (cooking) butter to which no colouring matter or preservative has been added. The quality of ghee produced in a State or Union Territory should meet the compositional standards specified under FSSAI rules, 2011 (as amended from time to time) in respect of Butyro - refractometer (BR) reading at 40°C, Reichert Meissl (RM) value, free fatty acids (as oleic acid) and moisture, as given in Table 1. Specifications for ghee under Agmark have been laid down under the `Ghee Grading & Marking Rules' 1938, amended in 1988 (AGMARK, 1988). Three grades, viz. `Special' `General' and `Standard' have been prescribed. The quality parameters for the last grade, i.e. `Standard Grade' are the same as prescribed under the FSSAI Rules and Regulations, 2011, as amended from time to time. There are two types of specifications for special and general grade ghee, viz., (i) All India Standard -for areas other than cotton tract i.e. Saurashtra and Madhya Pradesh, and (ii) Regional and Seasonal Standard- for cotton tract areas. The details of these are prescribed in Tables 2 and 3. Procedure for analysis of standard parameters is briefly described below, the details of which can be seen in BIS (1981). Experiment 1: Determination of Reichert Meissl (RM) and Polenske (PV) Values of ghee. General Reichert Meissl (RM) and Polenske (PV) values are the important indices of quality of milk fat. Reichert Meissl (RM) value is substantially a measure of the lower chain fatty acids of ghee i.e. butyric (4:0) and caproic (6:0) acids. The value of milk fat ranges from 17-35, which is well above all other fats and oils. Butyric acid contributes about 3/4 th and caproic acid 1/4 th to the RM value. FSSAI Rules (2011) have also prescribed a minimum value (21-28, depending upon the place (state/ union territory) for it to ensure the quality of milk fat. AGMARK (1988) also prescribes value not less than 28 for non - cotton tract areas on all India basis, and not less than 23 in winter and not less than 21 in summers for cotton tracts of Saurashtra and Madhya Pradesh. Polenske (PV) for milk fat ranges from 1.2-2.4. Caprylic acid (C8:0) contributes upto 1/4 th and capric acid (C10:0) contributes 3/4 th to Polenske Value. AGMARK (1988) prescribes values 1-2 for areas other than cotton tract, and 0.5-1.2 in winters and 0.5-1.0 in summers for cotton tracts of Saurashtra and Madhya Pradesh. The nature of fatty acids present in the RM and P V value distillates has been computed as under: Parameters Fatty acids RM Value 4:0 6:0 8:0 10:0 12:0 % weight 65.3 30.1 4.6 - - % Mole 71.8 25.1 3.1 - - Polenske Value % weight - 0.6 22.1 76.7 0.6 % Mole - 0.8 25.7 73.1 0.5 Since the presence of lower chain fatty acids is peculiar to ruminant milk fat, the RM and PV are important characteristics of ghee. The actual figures for both cow and buffalo ghee stand at about 28 for RM and 1.5 for the PV. Sheep and goat ghee have RM similar to this but PV of 3 and 6, respectively.