The peroxide number or peroxide value is an important sum parameter for assessing the quality of edible fats and oils. It provides quantitative information about the presence of peroxides or hydroperoxides, which are formed when unsaturated fatty acids in fats and oils react with oxygen. Peroxide and hydroperoxides can lead to a rancid taste in oils, thus the peroxide number provides information about the freshness of the sample.

This Application Note describes the titrimetric determination of the peroxide value in canola and olive oil according to EN ISO 27107, EN ISO 3960, AOAC 965.33, Ph.Eur. 2.5.5, as well as USP<401>. Using the DIS-Cover technique all sample preparation steps can be fully automated, freeing up valuable time of the operator and thus increasing the productivity in the lab.

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The method is demonstrated for two different edible oils: canola oil (rapeseed oil) and olive oil. For both samples, no sample preparation is necessary.

The analysis demonstrates acceptable results with SD(rel) < 2% and well defined titration curves. The results and an example titration curve are displayed in Table 1 and Figure 2, respectively.

Titration is a precise and reliable method to determine the peroxide value in various edible oils according to various international standards.

Using an OMNIS Sample Robot with Dis-Cover functionality allows a fully automated determination of up to four samples simultaneously, freeing up valuable time of the operator and thus increasing the productivity in the lab. The OMNIS system offers the opportunity to customize the system according to your needs and expand it for other required titration applications on edible oils, such as the acid value or iodine value.