Quantitative Lipid Composition of Iberian Pig Muscle and Adipose Tissue by HPLC

Abstract

Cholesteryl esters (CE), triacylglycerols (TG), free cholesterol (FC), monoacylglycerols (MG), and phospholipids (PL) were simultaneously determined by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled to a light‐scattering detector (ELSD) in Iberian pig fat from adipose tissue and Masseter muscle. The precision of the HPLC system was excellent, showing RSD values of repeatability lower than 5.27% for detector response and 0.12% for retention times. TG was the major lipid class detected, accounting for nearly 80% in the muscle and 86% in adipose tissue. The fatty acid compositions of total lipids, TG, and PL in the tissues studied were characterized for high concentrations of oleic (18∶1, n–9), palmitic (16∶0), and stearic (18∶0) acids. We conclude that the method reported here is suitable for rapid and precise determination of lipid classes in Iberian pig fat and may be suitable for the analysis of the sensory quality of this and other meat products.

Keywords:

• Iberian pig
• Lipid classes
• HPLC
• Triacylglycerol
• Cholesterol

Acknowledgments

This work was financed by grants from Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnología (CICYT) (AGL2002‐00195) and Junta de Andalucia (CAO01‐002) and an I3P contract to JSP (European Social Funds).