Cholesterol content is generally used as a quality parameter for egg noodles, but some methods for its determination are not specific for cholesterol; moreover, they require numerous organic solvents and corrosive reagents, which have harmful affects on the environment. The present paper suggests an alternative technique for this determination using enzymes, which is cheaper, faster and environmentally safe. This enzymatic method was compared to the provenly reliable and accurate high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) method involving direct saponification. The results obtained by the former were significantly higher than those obtained by HPLC, but the correlation was high and a correlation factor was determined: F = 0.7257 x enzymatic values-5.1419. The values calculated using this correlation factor showed no significant difference from those measured by HPLC. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.792267270