A study was made on physical and chemical properties of commercially available margarine and butter on the market in France and Spain. These products, collected in France and Spain, comprized margarine, low fat spread, dairy spread, and butter, including the high linoleic type in former two kinds, and the compound type in latter two kinds. (1) While all brands of margarine and butter in France contained above 80% fat, some brands of them in Spain contained below 80% fat, which were out of the international standards. In France, fat contents in low fat and dairy spreads could divided into two groups of about 40% and 60%, but these products were scarcely found in spanish supermarkets. The nickel content was low (0.06ppm or less) in french products, but relatively high (above 0.3ppm) in three brands of spanish products. (2) On margarine and low fat spread, in France, vitamin A (retinol) was fortified in only one bland, but vitamin A and D
3 were fortified in almost all of them in Spain, in the same cases of Germany and England previously reported. Sorbic acid was detected in most samples except butter in France and Spain, and BHA, BHT, dodecyl gallate and/or benzoic acid were detected in some of them in Spain. (3) Percentages of c, c-18:2 to total fatty acids in the high linoleic type were not less than 45% in France and 35 % in Spain, and that type also contained relatively high levels of tocopherols (x: total, 38.1 ; a-form, 20.0mg/100g). Trans-form fatty acids were detected in all samples.
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