Method for determining the fat content of feed, food, and other materials utilizing filter media encapsulation

A method of determining the crude fat content of a foodstuff sample which comprises:

• providing a quantitative aliquot of said foodstuff contained within an enclosed filtering media having a predetermined capability of retaining particles of said sample and sufficient porosity for organic solvent penetration, and where said filtering media is in the form of a sealed pouch having a filtering capacity capable of retaining 4 micron size particles;
• placing said pouch within a sealed extraction vessel;
• exposing said pouch to organic solvent for sufficient time to extract substantially all of said fat contained in the sample from said chamber, with the balance of the sample components remaining in said pouch;
• rinsing the pouch and contents with the solvent to remove any residual fat in the sample and pouch;
• and
• weighing the pouch with the sample and determining the fat content of the sample by the loss of weight of the sample.

A method of determining the crude fat content of a plurality of a foodstuff sample which comprises:

• providing a quantitative aliquot of said foodstuff each individually encapsulated within a sealed filtering media having a predetermined capability of retaining the sample particles and sufficient porosity for organic solvent penetration;
• placing said filtering media within a sealed extraction vessel;
• exposing the filtering media to a heated organic solvent, for sufficient time to extract substantially all of said fat contained in the samples from said media, with the balance of the sample components remaining in said sealed media;
• rinsing the filtering media and contents with the solvent to remove any residual fat in the samples and filtering media;
• and
• weighing the filtering media with the sample and determining the fat content of the samples by the loss of weight of the sample.