What is ISO 3960 about?
ISO 3960 specifies a method for the iodometric determination of the peroxide value of animal and vegetable fats and oils with 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 described in ISO 3960 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 margarine and fat spreads with varying water content. The method is not suitable for milk fats and is not applicable to lecithins.
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.
Who is ISO 3960 for?
ISO 3960 on animal and vegetable fats and oils is useful for:
- Food technologists
- Chemical Engineers
- Food and safety department
Why should you use ISO 3960?
Animal fats are largely used in the production of margarine, shortening, and compound fat. They also enter many processed food products.
ISO 3960 provides an iodometric determination method to test and determine the peroxide value present in animal and vegetable fat oils and provides standard guidelines for preparing samples for testing oil specimens.
In ISO 3960, manufacturers are provided with iodometric methods and calculation techniques that assist in maintaining and standardizing product quality by determining standard peroxide value.

