In many foods the lipid component plays a major role
in determining the overall physical characteristics, such as flavor, texture, mouthfeel and
appearance. In the proximate system of analysis, `fat' is measured as the fraction of the food that
is soluble in lipid solvents. For nutritional purposes the measurement of `total fat' has limited
value; nevertheless, it still is widely reported and is retained in many requirements for food
labeling and the regulation of food composition. The “Soxhlet” method described here is
recognized by the Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC) as the standard method
for crude fat analysis.