🥚 Mayonnaise — hen’s egg yolk content, fat, acidity, acid value of the fat and sensory assessment according to the product standard, PN-A-86950

Food chemistry PN-A-86950

Overview

WHAT THE STANDARD COVERS. The “Scope” field of the PKN catalogue card, in full: “Mayonnaise is divided into three types depending on the percentage fat content: low-fat, table and high-fat, and into two types according to raw material composition and additions used: without flavouring additions and with flavouring additions. General requirements for raw materials and sensory, physicochemical and microbiological requirements as well as disqualifying features for mayonnaise are specified. The method of packaging, marking, storage and transport conditions are given. The testing programme and the sampling method are specified. A description of the tests is given and five test methods are described, giving for each the principle of the method, the instruments and materials used, reagents and solutions, sample preparation, performance of the determination and calculation of results, as well as assessment of the lot”. It is thus a product standard — requirements and test methods in one document — and not a standard for a single method. The card does not say which five determinations the methods concern; from the accreditation scopes we know the numbers of two points: 5.3.5 — hen’s egg yolk content (AB 704, AB 705) and 5.3.6 — acid value of the extracted fat (AB 1334).

STATUS (PKN cards as of 06.11.2026). The card of PN-A-86950:1995 (Polish version) has no “Withdrawn” header and no withdrawal date — the standard is current: publication 15-12-1995, 11 pages, price group F, Food, Agriculture and Forestry Sector, technical body “RS SRZ, Sector Council of the Food, Agriculture and Forestry Sector”, ICS 67.220.20, “Replaces: PN-A-86950:1980 - Polish version”, “Additional elements: PN-A-86950:1995/Ap1:2000”; the card has no “Adopts” or “Replaced by” fields. The corrigendum PN-A-86950:1995/Ap1:2000 is listed on the card of the standard only by its designation, without a link; the catalogue has no card at the address formed as for other additional elements (response “not found”, 06.11.2026), and the PKN search engine returned a server error on the day of reading — we know neither the content of the corrigendum nor its status.

LEGISLATION. In the Sejm’s register of legal acts (ISAP, search by title through the Sejm API, 06.11.2026) no act has the word “majonez” (mayonnaise) in its title — we did not search the content of other acts for mayonnaise requirements and we do not give them.

HOW MANY LABORATORIES AND IN WHAT FORM (copy of the accreditation scope database from the production server of 02.11.2026, read on 06.11.2026). All notations of number 86950 in the reference document field: 14 entries at 9 Polish laboratories (AB 285, AB 370, AB 451, AB 583, AB 704, AB 705, AB 775, AB 1179, AB 1334); there are no Czech laboratories with this standard in the copy. There are more entries than laboratories because AB 1334 has four (acidity, acid value of the fat, fat, sensory assessment) and AB 583 three (fat, water, ash). Notations: “PN-A-86950:1995” — all except two: “PN- A-86950:1995” with a space after “PN-” (AB 370) and “PN-A-86950:1995/1+Ap1:2000P” (AB 1334, the entry with the acid value). The corrigendum Ap1:2000 is added by 6 laboratories (AB 285, AB 370, AB 704, AB 775, AB 1179, AB 1334 — at AB 1334 in three of four entries); AB 451, AB 583 and AB 705 cite the standard without it. A point of the standard is given by AB 704 and AB 705 (5.3.5 — yolk), AB 1334 (5.3.6 — acid value of the fat) and AB 583 (5.3 — fat). The “Laboratories” tab shows 8 laboratories and 13 entries — it does not recognise the notation with a space at AB 370 (the site’s search query run on the database copy on 06.11.2026). Current PCA scope documents of these 9 laboratories (read on 06.11.2026, issues from 24.11.2025 to 18.09.2026): each of the 14 entries stands in the valid issue with the same range as in the copy. The AB 1179 document has a footnote on suspension of the part of the scope marked in bold italics from 24.04.2026 to 21.10.2026 — the entry with this standard is not so marked.

WHAT THE LABORATORIES TEST (complete entries from the PCA documents). Hen’s egg yolk content, gravimetric method — 5 laboratories: AB 285 (0,5–6,9) %, AB 370 (0,89–6,90) %, AB 704 (0,6–10,0) %, AB 705 (0,9–6,5) % — in “mayonnaises and mayonnaise sauces”, AB 775 (0,5–7,0) %. Fat: “Free fat content”, extraction-gravimetric method (Weibull-Stoldt), (22,9–85) % — AB 1179; “Fat content”, gravimetric method — AB 1334 (29,0–90,0) % in mayonnaises and mayonnaise sauces and AB 583 (0,5–80) % in concentrates, mayonnaises, mustards and sauces, together with PN-A-79011-4:1998 and the in-house procedure PB-04/HŻ. Acidity calculated as acetic acid, (0,40–1,40) %, potentiometric titration method — AB 1334. Acid value of the extracted fat, (0,30–4,00) mg KOH/g, and acidity calculated as oleic acid (FFA), (0,15–2,0) %, titration method — AB 1334, together with PN-EN ISO 660:2021-03 (a separate Knowledge Base entry on determining the acid value of fats). Water (2,5–81) % with dry matter by calculation and ash (0,1–3) %, gravimetric method — AB 583, together with PN-A-79011-3:1998 (water) and the in-house procedures PB-06/HŻ and PB-07/HŻ. Consistency, colour, odour and taste — simple descriptive test (AB 1334) and simple descriptive method (AB 451, in the entry “mayonnaise, mustard” together with PN-A-86964:1997).

WHERE A SEEMINGLY CORRECT RESULT IS EASY TO GET. First — two different “acidities”: at AB 1334 one entry is the acidity of the mayonnaise calculated as acetic acid (%), the other the acid value of the fat extracted from the mayonnaise (mg KOH/g) or the acidity of that fat as oleic acid (%); these are different quantities and different test portions (the whole product or the fat alone). A result without the name of the quantity and the acid cannot be compared. Second — the acid value is determined in the fat extracted from the product; AB 1334 cites point 5.3.6 of this standard together with PN-EN ISO 660:2021-03, and the scope does not show which document describes the separation of the fat and which the titration — the result depends on both steps. Third — fat: “free fat” by the Weibull-Stoldt extraction-gravimetric method (AB 1179) and “fat” by the gravimetric method (AB 583, AB 1334) are differently named determinations in the scopes; whether they give the same result does not follow from the scopes — the test report must name the method. Fourth — the subject: the title of the standard speaks of mayonnaise, while laboratories also apply it to mayonnaise sauces (AB 705, AB 1334) and to concentrates, mustards and sauces (AB 583); the requirements of the standard (division into types by fat content, physicochemical requirements) concern mayonnaise, and we do not know what limit values the standard gives — a result for a mayonnaise sauce can be reported, but its assessment against this standard has nothing to support it. Fifth — range: the upper limits for yolk content range from 6,5 % (AB 705) to 10,0 % (AB 704); a result above the laboratory’s upper limit lies outside the scope of accreditation.

WHAT WE DO NOT GIVE. We did not have the text of the standard or of the corrigendum Ap1:2000 — PKN makes them available for a fee. We do not give limit values: the fat contents defining the types (low-fat, table, high-fat), the physicochemical and microbiological requirements or the disqualifying features; we do not give which five determinations the methods of the standard concern (apart from points 5.3.5 and 5.3.6 known from the scopes), their principles, instruments, reagents or calculations, the testing programme, the sampling method or the lot assessment; nor do we know what Ap1:2000 corrects. Nor do we know what the addition “/1” and the letter “P” in the AB 1334 notation mean.

Method principle

According to the card of the standard: mayonnaise is assessed against the sensory, physicochemical and microbiological requirements of the standard, and for testing the standard describes five methods — for each the principle, instruments, reagents, sample preparation, performance and calculation of results — as well as the lot assessment. In accreditation scopes laboratories use it to determine the hen’s egg yolk content (gravimetric method, point 5.3.5), fat (gravimetric or extraction-gravimetric method), acidity calculated as acetic acid (potentiometric titration), the acid value of the extracted fat (titration method, point 5.3.6, together with PN-EN ISO 660), water and ash (gravimetric method), and to assess consistency, colour, odour and taste. We DO NOT GIVE the principles of the individual methods — we did not have the text of the standard.

Applications

• Mayonnaise (title of the standard); in accreditation scopes also mayonnaise sauces (AB 705, AB 1334) and concentrates, mustards and sauces (AB 583)
• Hen’s egg yolk content (gravimetric method, point 5.3.5 according to the scopes of AB 704 and AB 705) — 5 laboratories
• Fat, water, ash, acidity calculated as acetic acid, acid value of the extracted fat (point 5.3.6 according to the scope of AB 1334), sensory assessment
• In accreditation scopes: 9 Polish laboratories, 14 entries

Key parameters

Standard

Standard number

PN-A-86950:1995 (Polish version) with corrigendum PN-A-86950:1995/Ap1:2000

Title (PL)

Majonez

Title (EN)

Mayonnaise

Step-by-step procedure

1. Status of the document

   PKN card: standard current, with corrigendum Ap1:2000 (card as of 06.11.2026).

2. Sampling and sample preparation

   The standard specifies the sampling method and the sample preparation for each method (from the card). We DO NOT GIVE details — we did not have the text of the standard.

3. Determinations

   In accreditation scopes: hen’s egg yolk (point 5.3.5, gravimetric method), fat, acidity as acetic acid, acid value of the extracted fat (point 5.3.6), water, ash, sensory assessment. We DO NOT GIVE the procedure.

4. Result and assessment

   Result with the name of the quantity, unit and method; assessment of the product and of the lot against the requirements of the standard (card: lot assessment is part of the description of the methods). We DO NOT GIVE limit values.

Required equipment and apparatus

Health and safety (OHS)

• TECHNICAL NOTE: the “acidity” of mayonnaise (as acetic acid) and the acid value of the extracted fat are two different quantities — the test report states the name of the quantity, the unit and the acid
• Separating the fat by extraction — work with solvents under a fume hood; the card does not say which reagents the standard uses (it lists only “reagents and solutions”), so we DO NOT GIVE the hazards of specific substances

Frequently asked questions