Single-Bounce ATR Analysis of Edible Fats and Oils and Alcoholic Beverages for Compliance with Labeling Regulations

This application note demonstrates the use of ingle-bounce attenuated total reflectance (SB-ATR) in the FTIR determination of the trans content of edible fats and oils and the analysis of alcoholic beverages. Naturally occurring double bonds in fats and oils of plant origin generally have the cis configuration. However, extensive cis ® trans isomerization may occur during industrial processing, and the levels of trans isomers in processed fats and oils can be as high as 40%. For taxation purposes, alcohol content must be declared on the labels of all alcoholic beverages, but commercially available FTIR wine analyzers require samples having high alcohol and/or sugar content to be diluted prior to analysis.