4. Conclusions
A new method suitable for plant sterol analysis in fortified food
was developed that is capable of providing more rapid analysis with
reduced labour and cost. This was achieved by shortening incubation
times, eliminating manual extraction, and by reducing solvent
use and other consumables. The method enabled the extraction of
sterols during saponification and aided in reduction of emulsion
formation by the addition of acid during incubation. The results
demonstrated that the surrogate 5b-cholestan-3a-ol was well suited
for sterol quantification whereas 5a-cholestane provided
results with a positive bias. The overall measurement uncertainty
for total phytosterols determination for the developed method
was ±10%. This method is suitable for the routine analysis of sterols
in matrices such as dairy, meat and fat spreads, including oils.