a simple method to determine the fat content in food sample

1. 4.6.3 Fat estimated by
AOAC (1975) method
Principle
The extraction of fat from substances is often tedious
and requires thorough contact and heating with the
solvent. This is done in the soxhlet apparatus in which
fresh solvent continuously comes into contactwith the
material to be extracted over a relatively long period of
time.
PROCEDURE
4gram ofsample is weighed into a thimble and plugged
with fat free cotton wool. The thimble is then in the
soxhlet apparatus attached to a pre weighed flask and
extracted for about2hrs there after the flask is retrieved
from the apparatus with as little solvent in it. It is then
transferred into an oven to evaporate the remaining
solvent, leaving behind only the residue orextract. The
flask is then cooled in desiccators after which it is
weighed to estimate the fat.
CALCULATION
% fat content =
𝑤𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑟 𝑜𝑖𝑙 𝑒𝑥𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡
𝑤𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑛
X100
FAT ANALYSIS BY SOXHELET
METHOD: