Quantification of conjugated linoleic acid and other essential fatty acidsin ovine meat, milk, fat, and intestinal digesta

Saturated fatty acids (FAs), positional and geometric isomers of mono-, di- and tri-unsaturated FAs containing eighteen carbon atoms were separated on two long HPLC RP-C,, columns. All FAs in ovine milk, meat, fat, and intest inal digesta were assayed after pre-column derivatization using UV detectio n at 256 nm. The content of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) in processed sam ples can be determined by using simultaneous UV monitoring at 256 and 235 n m. The presented method is a simple, sensitive and selective analytical too l for routine quantification of FAs and CLA.