Simultaneous determination of cholesterol oxides, cholesterol and fatty acids in processed turkey meat products

Cholesterol oxides, cholesterol, total lipids and fatty acids were determined in the lipid extracts from eight processed turkey meat products (blanquet, frankfurter, ham, meatball, smoked breast, smoked ham and roule). Cholesterol and cholesterol oxides were determined simultaneously by high performance liquid chromatography using a diode array detector at 210 nm and a refractive index detector. Only two cholesterol oxides were identified, 7-ketocholesterol (not detected up to 184 μg/100 g) and β-epoxycholesterol (not detected up to 450 μg/100 g). With the exception of the meatballs, hamburger and frankfurters, all the turkey meat products showed less than 5% fat, and could thus be considered as low fat foods. The cholesterol content varied from 32 to 43 mg/100 g, the ratio of polyunsaturated:saturated fatty acids varied from 1.1 to 1.8 and the ratio of ω6:ω3 from 18 to 28. Trans fatty acids were present in significant amounts in both hamburger and meatball.