Comparison of Two Fat Extraction Methods in Powdered Infant Milks

Two methods for the extraction of fat from powdered infant milk were compared. The methods were: (i) a cold method which involves an extraction with pentane and (ii) a modification of the Pont method, which involves the heating of the sample. Peroxide values were used in order to compare the oxidation effect of the two methods. The modified Pont method provided statistically higher values of peroxides (P<0.05) than the pentane extraction method. However, the gap between peroxide values from both methods remained constant in a large set of samples with different oxidative damage. For fat extraction, the Pont method was more suitable, since about 100% of fat was extracted, compared with 63% extracted fat with the pentane method. In addition, it was less time-consuming and cheaper.