authorities. In the European Union directive 2008/100/EU
(Commission directive, 2008) the definition includes polymers/
oligomers with a DP of 3 and higher. This new dietary fibre
definition stimulates the ongoing discussion on which analytical
method, or combination of methods, have to be applied for a correct
measurement of the dietary fibre content including the soluble
low molar weight dietary fibre carbohydrates with PDP3 (in
agreement with the new EU definition) in all kind of food products.
The AOAC 985.29 (AOAC Official Method 985.29) and AOAC
991.43 (AOAC official method 991.43, 1991) were the official
methods of analysis for the determination of the dietary fibre content
in food products until about 2005. However, these methods
have appeared to be inappropriate for the determination of the
upcoming new category of low molar weight dietary fibres
(LMWDF) like inulin, FOS, GOS and polydextrose. Due to the
increasing use of (soluble) low molar weight dietary fibres in food
products, the governmental authorities had to withdraw the methods
AOAC 985.29 and AOAC 991.43 from legislation (Staatscourant,
2005).
In 2007 an integrated method for the determination of total dietary
fibre including non-digestible oligosaccharide was described
by McCleary (2007). The integrated procedure for the measurement
of the total high molar weight (or water/ethanol insoluble)
dietary fibre (HMWDF) and the low molecular weight (or water/