Animal Fats

This group consists of depot fats from domestic land animals (e.g., lard and tallow), all containing large amounts of C16 and C18 fatty acids, medium amounts of unsaturated acids, mostly oleic and linoleic and small amounts of odd numbered acids. These fats also contain appreciable amounts of fully saturated triacylglycerols and exhibit relatively high meting points. Egg lipids are of particular importance because of their emulsifying properties and their high content of cholesterol.

 The lipid content of whole eggs is approximately 12%, almost exclusively present in the yolk, which contains 32 - 36% lipid. The major fatty acids in egg yolks are 18: 1 (38%), 16: 0 (23%), and 18: 2 (16%). Yolk lipids  consist of about 66% triacylglycerols, 28% phospholipids and 5% cholesterol. The major phospholipids of egg yolk are phosphatidylcholine (73%) and phosphatidylethanolamine (15%).