Consumption Pattern and Fatty Acid Composition of Ghee

Ghee is a common fat consumed by many families in their daily diet as a rich source of energy. With ever increasing demand of ghee and nutritional awareness amongst the consumer, various food industries have started producing and marketing ghee with different brands. It becomes worth investigating the nutritional status with respect various analytical parameters and fatty acid composition of these differently branded ghee. A survey was conducted regarding consumption pattern of different brands of ghee using pre-designed questionnaire. Eight most popular brands of ghee were collected from the local market and characterized for various analytical parameters. Each sample of ghee was characterized for fatty acid composition using GC on C18 column. The results were summarized and interpreted with respect to importance of different fatty acids which suggest that all the brands have characteristics as prescribed by the PFA.