Evaluation of the CP-Sil 88 and SP-2560 GC Columns Used in the Recently Approved AOCS Official Method Ce 1h-05: Determination of cis-, trans-, Saturated, Monounsaturated, and Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids in Vegetable or Non-ruminant Animal Oils and Fats by Capillary GLC Method

The AOCS Official Method Ce 1h‐05 was recently approved at the 96th AOCS Annual Meeting (2005) by the Uniform Methods Committee as the official method for determining cis and trans FA in vegetable or non‐ruminant fats and oils. A series of experiments was undertaken using a margarine (hydrogenated soybean oil) sample containing approximately 34% total trans FA (28% 18∶1 trans, 6% 18∶2 trans, and 0.2% 18∶3 trans), a low‐trans oil (ca. 7% total trans FA), and a proposed system suitability mixture (12∶0, 9c−18∶1, 11c−18;1, 9c,12c,15c−18∶3, 11c−20∶1, and 21∶0) in an effort to evaluate and optimize the separation on the 100‐m SP‐2560 and CP‐Sil 88 flexible fused‐silica capillary GC columns recommended for the analysis. Different carrier gases and flow rates were used during the evaluation, which eventually lead to the final conditions to be used for AOCS Official Method Ce 1h‐05.