Analysis of triglycerides in butter, plant oils, and adulterated butter with LPGC-MS

This work is focused on the detection of butter adulteration by sunflower and rapeseed oils using low pressure gas chromatography mass spectrometry (LPGC-MS). The method is based on simple dissolution of triglycerides from butter samples in chloroform and their direct analysis with LPGC-MS. The method allows the detection of characteristic triglycerides as butter adulteration markers and their quantification in different samples, with the possibility to quantify plant oil addition to butter at 0.45% level (using m/z = 600.4 for rapeseed oil) and 0.15% for sunflower oil (using m/z = 598.4). Ten different commercial butters were tested for the presence of sunflower and rapeseed oil. Interestingly, the addition of rapeseed oil up to 1.2% was recorded in one butter brand. Graphical abstract