Capillary GLC: a robust method to characterise the triglyceride profile of cocoa butter — results of an intercomparison study

The results of a method intercomparison study, in which 13 laboratories applied high‐temperature capillary GLC on fused‐silica columns coated with medium‐polarity stationary phases to determine the triglyceride profile of cocoa butter, are reported. The participants did not apply a uniform GLC procedure based on a standard method, but were requested to use their own methodology. However, certain requirements relating to the separation efficiency and the accuracy, had to be fulfilled. The relative standard deviation of the reproducibility was less than 5% for the major triglyceride components of cocoa butter. The results of the present study indicate that neither the type of capillary column employed nor sample injection techniques or other chromatographic conditions influenced to a measurable degree the agreement of results between the participating laboratories. Therefore, we conclude that high‐temperature capillary GLC is a robust and reliable technique for the characterisation of cocoa butter by determining its triglyceride pattern.