Absence of pork fat in oil

Naturally, if no animal fat can be detected after cholesterol analysis, then it can reasonably be concluded that pork fat is not present. If cholesterol is present, either as a low percentage of the total sterols or as a major or only component of the sterols, then other approaches have to be employed. If the product is likely to contain any DNA material, then DNA analysis would probably be the best approach (Montiel-Sosa el al., 2000). This might include rendered fat if the fat had not been highly refined, though no work appears to have been done to determine whether this would be possible. 

It is claimed by some laboratories that they can identify the absence of pork fat in, for example, beef tallow, by the determination of the simple fatty acid composition with a rough comparison of fatty acid compositions. Certainly the accepted ranges for lard and edible tallows (including premier jus) given in Codex Alimentarius are different (Table 5.2.), and pure fats can often be differentiated in this way, but the natural variability of the product ensures that this is not certain when lower levels of pork fat ( 50%) are present. In the 

Fatty acid Lard Premier jus and beef tallow 

The problem of the presence of pork fat derivatives in oleochemicals and products is similar to that already described with respect to animal oleochemicals in general. A summary of the status of food emulsifiers with respect to Jewish food laws is given by Hodd (1996). The author, however, presumably obtained his information from the manufacturers and not by testing the products. 

It may therefore be stated that there are a number of methods that might be used to confirm the absence of pork fat, but that none of them can be considered to give a definitive answer. When the question is asked as to the absence of oleochemicals derived from pork fat, then there is no way of confirming their absence. 

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