The Quantification of Fatty Acids, Color, and Textural Properties of Locally Produced Bakery Margarine

Abstract

This study focused on the analysis of bakery margarine samples divided into three groups according to physical-chemical analyses of their fat and water content. A Gas Chromatograph-Mass Spectrometer (GC-MS) was used for the evaluation of fatty acids, and from 37 fatty acids studied, only 18 were quantified. The highest concentration was occupied by the long-chain saturated fatty acids category (C14:0–C20:0), ranging between 85.61 µg/mg and 127.30 µg/mg. The dominant fatty acid was palmitic acid for all margarine samples. The texture parameters (hardness, mechanical work of plastic deformation, and fracturability) analyzed in this study with three different penetrometers and a puncture test showed that bakery margarine is a hard plastic material with a pronounced fracturability. The margarine’s fracturability varied from 0.35 N to 8.23 N. The highest values were measured using the 10 mm diameter spherical penetrometer. Of the outside and inside evaluated color parameters, only the b* color parameter indicated an influence on the principal component analysis samples’ projections; its values are also positively correlated with polyunsaturated fatty acids (PN).