Tocopherol Content of the Fat of Dairy Products as an Index of Adulteration

Summary The tocopherol procedure, originally developed to detect the adulteration of the fat of butter, has been extended to the analysis of the fat of evaporated milk, condensed milk, whole milk powder, ice cream, and cheese. This procedure will not detect lard, tallow, or coconut oil. The tocopherol content of the fat from evaporated milk, condensed milk, whole milk powder, and Cheddar cheese is very close to that of butterfat produced at the same time of year. Nuts and fruit, if present in ice cream, must be filtered off before isolating the fat or excessively high tocopherol contents may be found. The tocopherol procedure cannot be applied to chocolate ice cream owing to the error caused by the tocopherol content of the chocolate fat. This procedure cannot be applied to processed cheeses that contain coloring materials other than annatto, Oil Yellow AB (F.D. & C. Yellow Np. 3), or Oil Yellow OB (F.D. & C. Yellow No. 4). Other colors, if present, may cause abnormally high results since they are not completely extracted from the fat by the sulfuric acid extraction step. Examples are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the tocopherol procedure for detecting the adulteration of the fat of evaporated milk, condensed milk, and whole milk powder.