Screening of steroids as adulterants in food supplements

HPTLC is often the best analytical technique for screening a large number of samples cha- racterized by a complex matrix, as in the case of adulteration and fraud. HPTLC is simple, flexible, relatively inexpensive and a useful analytical tool for laboratories involved in food control to screen several classes of adulterants. The use of more expensive and sensitive tech- niques, such as HPLC coupled to different de- tectors, can be limited only to the positive sam- ples, allowing a wider control of the market.