COMPARISON OF ROUTINE AND REFERENCE METHODS FOR THE DETERMINATION OF MOISTURE, SOLIDS-NOT-FAT AND FAT IN BUTTER - A PILOT COLLABORATIVE STUDY

A collaborative trial comparing New Zealand (NZ) routine methods for t he determination of moisture, solids-not-fat (SNF) and fat (by differe nce) contents in butter with IDF Standard 80 was conducted. A comparis on of IDF Standard 10 for the determination of moisture was also inclu ded. IDF Standard 10, on average, yielded lower moisture results (0.05 %) compared with IDF Standard 80. No further bias was detected when th e routine and reference methods were compared for any of the component s moisture, SNF and fat (by difference). Repeatability values for mois ture found in this trial were in close agreement with those quoted by all the respective methods. The SNF repeatability found for the NZ rou tine method compared well with that quoted by the method, whereas that found for IDF Standard 80 was significantly larger than that quoted b y that method. Accordingly, the repeatability for fat (by difference) was larger than that calculated from the quoted moisture and SNF repea tabilities. Reproducibility values for all methods are reported. The r esults found in this study must be viewed as preliminary. The presence , or lack, of significant bias between the various methods as well as more precise estimates for repeatability and reproducibility should be established by a larger international collaborative trial. (C) 1998 E lsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.