EN ISO 3960:2008

This European Standard specifies a method for the iodometric determination of the peroxide value of animal and vegetable fats and oils with a visual endpoint detection. The peroxide value is a measure of the amount of oxygen chemically bound to an oil or fats as peroxides, particularly hydroperoxides. The method is applicable to all animal and vegetable fats and oil, fatty acids and their mixtures with peroxide values from 0 meq to 30 meq (milliequivalents) of active oxygen per kilogram. It is also applicable to margarines and fat spreads with varying water content. The method is not suitable for milk fats and is not applicable to lecithins. It is to be noted that the peroxide value is a dynamic parameter, whose value is dependent upon the history of the sample. Furthermore, the determination of the peroxide value is a highly empirical procedure and the value obtained depends on the sample mass. It is stressed that, due to the prescribed sample mass, the peroxide value obtained can be slightly lower that those obtained with a lower sample mass.