TBARS

Abbreviation for TBA reactive substances — the collective term for malonaldehyde and related compounds formed during lipid oxidation that react with thiobarbituric acid. TBARS is among the most cited indices of oxidative deterioration in food science, applied to muscle foods, edible oils, dairy powders, and snack products to track rancidity development through processing and storage. Results are expressed as mg malonaldehyde equivalents per kg of sample. Because numerous method variants exist — differing in distillation versus extraction, heating regimes, and quantification — TBARS figures are only comparable when generated by the same protocol, a caveat every quality laboratory must respect.