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Report of a Study on the Toxicity of Several Food Preserving Agents¹

Department of Dairy Husbandry, University of Illinois

ABSTRACT

A study was made of the amount of gain produced in growing white rats which were fed diets containing chemical agents used in food products or as a sterilizing agent. The amount of gain produced was used as an indication of the toxicity of these chemical agents. It is recognized that the method of measuring toxicity by the amount of gain produced has a limited application.

Neither calcium propionate nor sodium propionate, when fed in quantities up to 3.0 percent of the diet, decreased the amount of gain.

Zephiran, a disinfectant made up of high molecular alkyldimethylbenzyl-ammonium chlorides, when included in the diet at the rate of 3.0 per cent, did not cause any ill effect. In fact, the zephiran group made slightly greater gain than the control group; and out of seven pairs of rats finishing the trial, five of the rats receiving zephiran made greater gains than their paired members in the control group. The results of this study indicated that zephiran is not toxic, and since it is a germicide there is a possibility that it could be employed to help control the bacterial flora of the alimentary canal in experiments where that feature is desired.

Sodium benzoate fed at the rate of 1.0 percent in the diet did not affect the amount of gain. When the rate was increased to 3.0 per cent, definite toxic effects were observed. Numerous investigations have indicated that benzoic acid in the animal organism is detoxified by combining with glycine to form hippuric acid. It has been suggested that the animal organism has a readily available supply of glycine which can be used for the detoxication of benzoic acid. This .study indicates that the animal organism has only a limited capacity for detoxifying benzoic acid in the body. The fact that addition of glycine to the sodium benzoate diet increased the amount of gain indicates a decrease in toxicity. The small difference between the gains produced in this group and the control group is considered significant, however, because individual comparisons showed that the control animals made greater gains than the experimental animals in every case.

The animal organism may develop a tolerance for sodium benzoate. Three groups of rats, which had received, respectively, no sodium benzoate, 1.0 per cent sodium benzoate, and 3.0 per cent sodium benzoate plus glycine, were all placed on a diet containing 3.0 per cent sodium benzoate. The group which had not previously received any sodium benzoate made the smallest gain and required the most food per gram of gain. The development of a tolerance for sodium benzoate was indicated by this fact and by the evidence obtained in series II that the toxic effects are expressed during the first 20 days of feeding.

The paired-feeding method of controlling food intake is believed essential to a study of this nature. If the food intakes of the control and experimental animals had not been equal, observed differences in amount of gain could have resulted from the difference in amount of food consumed.

¹ This Study was a graduate research problem conducted under the direction and supervision of Professor T. S. Hamilton, Department of Animal Husbandry, University of Illinois.