Chromatographic Analysis of Fatty Acid Methyl Esters (FAMEs) is an important tool in the characterization of fats and oils and in the determination of total fat and trans-fat content in foods. To prepare samples for analysis, fats are extracted, saponified and methylated to produce the methyl esters. FAMEs are both more volatile and more chemically stable than the corresponding acids, which allow analysis and quantitation by Gas Chromatography.

Infrared analysis of FAMEs is also an important tool used commonly to identify trans- and CIS isomers, among other features. DiscovIR combines the power of both methods in an automated approach that yields important structural information for each compound in addition to retention time comparison to standards.