ORIGINAL PAPER Nutrition Labeling: Rapid Determination of Total trans Fats by Using Internal Reflection Infrared Spectroscopy and a Second Derivative Procedure Magdi M. Mossoba Æ A. Seiler Æ J. K. G. Kramer Æ V. Milosevic Æ M. Milosevic Æ H. Azizian Æ H. Steinhart Received: 18 November 2008 / Revised: 10 July 2009 / Accepted: 14 July 2009 / Published online: 4 August 2009 Ó US Government 2009 Abstract In 2006, the US FDA mandated the declaration of the total trans fat content on the Nutrition Fact label of foods including dietary supplements when a product con- tained 0.5 or more grams of trans fatty acid per serving; the minimum corresponding trans fat content is estimated to be approximately 2% of total fat. The FDA definition is based on chemical structure and includes only fatty acids with one or more isolated double bonds in the trans configuration. Several issues negatively impacted the sensitivity of the current official infrared (IR) methods, thus limited the quantitation of trans fat to 5% of total fat. To improve sensitivity and accuracy and to meet the labeling require- ment, a new internal reflection IR procedure called negative second derivative is described and evaluated for the quan- titation of total trans fat in the present study. The enhanced spectral features of a second derivative resolved issues that traditionally limited the sensitivity of the IR methodology. Calibration standard mixtures starting at approximately 0.5% trielaidin in the total fat (tripalmitin or triarachidin) were successfully generated and used to determine the trans fat levels for unknown test samples with trans content as low as approximately 1% of total fat. Quantitative IR data were compared to those obtained by gas chromatography and were found to be in good agreement. Keywords Fats and oils Á Lipid chemistry Á Lipid analysis Á Trans fat Á Food labeling Á Infrared spectroscopy Á Attenuated total reflection Abbreviations IR Infrared ATR Attenuated total reflection PHVO Partially hydrogenated vegetable oil TE Trielaidin TS Tristearin TL Trilaurin TM Trimyristin TP Tripalmitin TA Triarachidin Introduction Compelling evidence based on the results of many per- suasive intervention trials and cohort studies warranted the labeling of trans fat by the US FDA [1–4] and other reg- ulatory agencies in Canada and around the world. Most experts from leading institutions (Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Science, the National Cholesterol Education Program, The American Heart Association), the World Health Organization, and US federal government expert panels had strongly agreed that the major adverse M. M. Mossoba (&) Á A. Seiler Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Food and Drug Administration, Mail Stop HFS-717, Room BE-012, 5100 Paint Branch Parkway, College Park, MD 20740-3835, USA e-mail: magdi.mossoba@fda.hhs.gov J. K. G. Kramer Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Guelph, ON, Canada V. Milosevic Á M. Milosevic MeV Photonics, Westport, CT, USA H. Azizian NIR Technologies, Oakville, ON, Canada A. Seiler Á H. Steinhart Institute of Food Chemistry, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany 123 J Am Oil Chem Soc (2009) 86:1037–1045 DOI 10.1007/s11746-009-1444-x