ISO/TS 17764-1:2002 specifies two methods for preparing the methyl esters of fatty acids of animal and vegetable fats, oils and fatty acid mixtures for raw materials for compound animal feeds, and fatty acids originating from fat extracts of animal feeding stuffs, including fats and fatty acid mixtures containing butyric acid.

The general method, the boron trifluoride (BF₃) method is concerned with the preparation of methyl esters of fatty acids with six or more C atoms, originating from fats, oils and free fatty acids.

The KOH/HCl method is concerned with the preparation of methyl esters of fatty acids with four or more C atoms. This method can also be used for the quantitative determination of fatty acids with a chain length shorter than 10 C atoms in free fatty acid mixtures.

The methyl esters produced can be used for gas-liquid chromatography (GLC).

Unsaponifiable materials are not removed and can, when present in considerable amounts, interfere with the chromatographic analysis.

ISO/TS 17764-2:2002 describes the application of gas chromatography with capillary columns and flame ionization detection for the determination of the content of fatty acids in a fat by making use of the methyl esters of the fatty acids obtained in accordance with the methods specified in ISO/TS 17764-1:2002.