ISO 3960:2017 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 fat as peroxides, particularly hydroperoxides.

The method is applicable to all animal and vegetable fats and oils, 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 values obtained can be slightly lower than those obtained with a lower sample mass.

Milk and milk products (or fat coming from milk and milk products) are excluded from the scope of this document.

NOTE 1 A preferred method for the iodometric determination of the peroxide value for milk fats is specified in ISO 3976.

NOTE 2 A method for the potentiometric determination of the peroxide value is given in ISO 27107.