A joint AOAC/AACC (American Association of Cereal Chemists) collaborative study of methods for the determination of soluble, insoluble, and total dietary fiber (SDF, IDF, and TDF) was conducted with 11 participating laboratories. The assay Is based on a modification of the AOAC TDF method 985.29 and the SDF/IDF method collaboratively studied recently by AOAC. The principles of the method are the same as those for the AOAC dietary fiber methods 985.29 and 991.42, Including the use of the same 3 enzymes (heat-stable α-amylase, protease, and amyloglucosldase) and similar enzyme Incubation conditions. In the modification, minor changes have been made to reduce analysis time and to Improve assay precision: (1) MES-TRIS buffer replaces phosphate buffer; (2) one pH adjustment step Is eliminated; and (3) total volumes of reaction mixture and filtration are reduced. Eleven collaborators were sent 20 analytical samples (4 cereal and grain products, 3 fruits, and 3 vegetables) for duplicate blind analysis. The SDF, IDF, and TDF content of the foods tested ranged from 0.53 to 7.17, 0.59 to 60.53, and 1.12 to 67.56 g/100 g, respectively. The respective average RSDR values for SDF, IDF, and TDF determinations by direct measurements were 13.1, 5.2, and 4.5%. The TDF values calculated by summing SDF and IDF were in excellent agreement with the TDF values measured independently. The modification did not alter the method performance with regard to mean dietary fiber values, yet It generated lower assay variability compared with the unmodified methods. The method for SDF, IDF, and TDF (by summing SDF and IDF) has been adopted first action by AOAC International.

Eighteen randomly selected cocoa samples were analyzed in duplicate by HPLC for caffeine and theobromine. The relative standard deviation for the method was determined to be 1.55%. The mean f S.D. of the theobromine plus caffeine content (moisture free basis) was 2.85 ? 0.08% with a 90% confidence interval of 2.72-2.98% for red Dutched cocoa. The total f SD. for natural cocoas was 2.82 + 0.16% with a 90% confidence interval of 2.56-3.08%.

A high pressure liquid chromatographic (HFLC) method for determining 5 common carbohydrates in food products was evaluated. Reproducibility data were generated showing a relative standard deviation of 2.8%. Recovery studies on a variety of foods gave an average recovery of 98.8%. The HPLC data for 3 varieties of ready-to-eat cereals were compared with data from 4 independent laboratories using current AOAC chemical methods. The HPLC mean values differed from the chemical mean values by 3.2%.

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