Trans Fatty Acid Content of Some Food Products in Poland

The fatty acid composition of chips, cakes and ice creams was determined with particular attention to their trans fatty acid content. The trans C18:1 content was determined by a combined capillary gas‐liquid chromatography (GLC) and silver thin‐layer chromatography (Ag‐TLC). Six of ten types of chips examined contained more than 10% trans C18:1 (in the range of 10.3 to 17.3% of the total fatty acids), and the other four had below 0.5%. In the lipids of cakes trans C18:1 isomers occurred at 1.49 to 41.44% and only four types of cakes contained less than 5% of trans C18:1. The cis‐trans and trans‐cis C18:2 isomers were present among the fatty acids of the majority of chips and cakes investigated. Six types of chips contained trans‐trans C18:2 in the 1.2–1.6% range. Trans fatty acids were absent in the lipids of 6 types of ice cream, but two types contained 11.3 and 19.4% trans C18:1.