Analytical characterization of camel meat and milk fat

Abstract

The aim of this study was to characterize the fat composition of camel milk fat and camel hump fat and thereby assist in the technological development of camel milk and meat based products. The latter is of major interest in parts of Africa where the camel resides in large numbers. A combination of silver-ion and reversed phase HPLC enables the isolation of triglycerides according to their saturation class and carbon number. Subjection of the isolated triglycerides to enzymatic splitting with lipase and subsequent analysis of the free fatty acids generated enables a positional analysis of the main triglyceride components and thus a characterization of the fat. The analytical techniques employed may equally well be applied to other fats or oils to allow their characterization.