AOCS and Japan Oil Chemists’ Society expand access to valuable tools for verifying food authenticity and detecting contaminants

AOCS adopts well-tested JOCS Method for determining the 2-position fatty acid in triglycerides.

URBANA, Ill., USA, October 21, 2019 — The AOCS and Japan Oil Chemists’ Society (JOCS) approved a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to mutually adopt selected official analytical methods and a Recommended Practice as joint JOCS/AOCS Methods. Users of official AOCS Methods will have access to two JOCS Methods: one for determining the fatty acid occupying the 2-position in triglycerides and one for detecting monochloropropanediol (MCPD) esters and glycidol esters in edible oils. In addition, AOCS will adopt a Recommended Practice for quantifying MCPD esters and glycidol esters in fish oils. AOCS and JOCS plan to conduct a collaborative trial to develop the Recommended Practice into an official joint JOCS/AOCS Method. The MOU will be officially signed during a ceremony at the headquarters of the JOCS on November 15.

The well-tested JOCS “2-position fatty acid in triglycerides” Method is an improvement of both the ISO Method and current AOCS Method in that it uses a more specific enzyme. By partnering with JOCS, AOCS was able to adopt it without a new collaborative study. In return, JOCS will be able to adopt AOCS Methods. Moreover, the two organizations have agreed to participate in collaborative methods development (collaborative studies).

“Being able to determine the fatty acid occupying the 2-position in triglycerides with this method gives us a valuable tool in verifying food authenticity. It’s also valuable in delineating contributing factors to food functionality because the melting behavior, and thus mouthfeel and flavor release, of fats in food is affected by the positional distribution of the component fatty acids,” said Scott Bloomer, Director, AOCS Technical Services.

The MOU is the result of a collaborative process that started at the 2018 AOCS Annual Meeting; however, the professional connection that led to that collaboration began several years earlier. Bloomer met fellow AOCS member Dr. Yomi Watanabe (Osaka Research Institute of Industrial Science and Technology) when they both volunteered as associate editors for the Journal of the American Oil Chemists’ Society. They developed a professional rapport during their time as AOCS volunteers, often discussing their research after presentations at AOCS Annual Meetings.

After one of her presentations at the 2018 AOCS Annual Meeting, Watanabe mentioned she had an official JOCS Method for determining the fatty acid occupying the 2-position. Bloomer shared what he learned about Watanabe’s method with Mark Collison, editor of the 7th edition of the official AOCS Methods, who agreed her method was well developed and encouraged Bloomer to work with JOCS.

Bloomer started conversations with Watanabe and Professors Yasushi Endo (Chair, Committee of the Standard Methods of JOCS) and Kouichi Asakura (President of JOCS) about the two societies mutually adopting analytical methods. At the 2018 joint JOCS/AOCS meeting in Kobe, Japan, this group, as well as Drs. Kinuko Miyazaki and Koyama Kazuo from House Foods Group Inc., met to discuss the steps for a JOCS Method to become an official AOCS Method. During the following months, Bloomer worked with them to codify the JOCS Methods according to AOCS requirements.

“This story illustrates the value of AOCS meetings and the value of connections, and even friendships that are built, through working as a volunteer in AOCS,” Bloomer said.

If you are interested in participating in the collaborative study related to quantifying MCPD esters and glycidol esters in fish oils, contact Scott Bloomer at scott.bloomer@aocs.org, +1 217-693-4830.

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Media Contact: Dan Klen, Communication Specialist, +1 217-693-4829, dklen@aocs.org