● Thiobarbituric Acid (TBA). TBA is the most widely used test for measuring the extent of
lipid oxidation. This test is preferred due to its simplicity and because its results correlate
highly with sensory scores. In this experiment we use a TBA test to measure the extent of
the reaction. TBA reacts with two molecules of malonaldehyde (formed as a byproduct of
lipid oxidation) to form a pink color. The color of the malonaldehyde-TBA complex can be
quanititated spectrophotometrically (530nm). Unfortunately other aldehydes (esp. reducing
sugars) can also react with TBA and give a false positive result.