AOAC Method 996.01, used to determine total fat in cereal foods as defined by the U.S. Nutrition Labeling and Education Act (NLEA), is laborious, time consuming and solvent dependent. Near-infrared (NIR) reflectance spectroscopy, a rapid and environmentally benign technique, was investigated as a potential method for prediction of total fat. NIR reflectance spectra (1104-2494 nm) of ground cereal products (n=72) were obtained using a dispersive grating spectrometer and total fat determined by AOAC Method 996.01. Using multivariate analysis, a modified partial least squares model was developed for total fat prediction, having a SECV of 1.12% (range 0.5-43.2%) and multiple coefficient of determination of 0.99. The model was tested with independent validation samples (n=36); all samples were predicted within NLEA accuracy. NIR reflectance spectroscopy, therefore, has considerable potential for determination of total fat in diverse cereal products for nutrition labeling and monitoring.
