The results shown in Table 2 demonstrate that the critical parameters in reducing labour and improve time efficiency are the addition of acid after saponification (Experiment D) and the extraction of sterols during incubation (Experiment A-I). Both heptane and toluene extractions were able to demonstrate recoveries from Vega pure E and milk powder ranging from 90% to 110%. The introduction of the extraction solvent into the saponification mixture eliminated the need to perform multiple manual liquid–liquid extractions after saponification.