Cholesterol determination in foods: Comparison between high performance and ultra-high performance liquid chromatography

Analytical methods for cholesterol evaluation in foods are crucial since this compound was closely related with cardiovascular disease. In the present study, two chromatographic methods were implemented and validated, in order to achieve the ideal analytical method for the quantification of cholesterol in food matrices. The developed methods were applied to different foodstuffs, sour cream, egg, egg yolk and chicken nuggets. Both HPLC and UHPLC methods are rapid, specific, sensitive, precise (RSD < 2.5%) and accurate. The achieved LOD and LOQ for UHPLC were 0.7 and 2.4 μg/mL, respectively, while for HPLC were 3 and 11 μg/mL. UHPLC method allowed reduction of the organic solvents consumption (8 times lower) and decreased analysis time in 4 min, being more eco-friendly, than conventional HPLC methods. Moreover, it will be very useful for the quality control of cholesterol content in food matrices and can be easily adopted by analytical laboratories.