The mobile phase used was methanol: THF: water 67:27:6 (v/v/v) at a flow rate 0.8 mL/min The eluted compounds were monitored by a DAD at 290 nm (tocopherols and tocopheryl acetate), 325 nm (retinol and retinyl palmitate) and 440 nm (b-carotene) and identified by retention time compared with pure standards, coelution with a spike of standard and the specific spectrum of each analysed compound.