Gas-liquid chromatographic determination of total and free cholesterol in egg pastas

A gas-liquid chromatographic (GLC) method is described for the measurement of total and free cholesterol in egg pastas. This technique involves: extraction of lipids by reflux with isopropanol, fractional separation by adsorption liquid chromatography with elution gradient using petroleum ether-benzene and chromatographic determination. The present study has demonstrated that the GLC method is more specific than the colorimetric techniques. Gas-liquid chromatography should be given consideration as a reference method for the estimation of free and total cholesterol. The recovery obtained was 99.5% +/- 0.6. A new quality parameter is presented, Total Cholesterol and Free Cholesterol Index, which allow the detection of adulteration with bovine plasma. Copyright (C) 1996 Canadian Institute of Food Science and Technology.