Aldehydes
Hydroperoxides break down to form a wide variety of decomposition products that are further oxidized and degraded. Compounds called aldehydes are one of the groups produced and can be used as a means of tracking the progress of fat degradation The aldehyde n-hexanal can be determined at very low levels in foods using a steam driven headspace gas chromatographic technique.2 This method has provided excellent results on low fat products such as cereals and cereal grains and is the method of choice for shelf-life studies designed to study oxidative rancidity.