AbstractThe quality of fat in ten different types of processed foods, including snack foods, deep fat fried products, bakery products and fish and meat products was studied. Crude fat was analysed gravimetrically and the fatty acid composition by capillary gas chromatography. Triacylglycerol equivalents, representing the total amount of triacylglycerol shaped fat in the samples, were calculated from the results of fatty acid analysis. The polar lipids were analysed using solid phase extraction (SPE) combined with high‐performance size‐exclusion chromatography (HPSEC). Polar lipid material‐, polymer‐ and polar triacylglycerol (PTAG)‐contents were calculated. The polar lipid content varied between 2.0% and 19.8% of total fat. Polymer and PTAG contents were 0–6.7% and 0.4–4.1% of the total fat, respectively. HPSEC proved to be a promising method for studing the alteration of food fats in processed foods. It is possible to obtain specific information about the altered lipid material and quality of food fats wit