HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Guthrie, E. S. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Guthrie, E. S.

The Effect of Feeding Cod-Liver Oil on the "Oxidized" and "Goaty" Flavors and Vitamin C in Milk

Cornell University, Ithaca, New York

ABSTRACT

The milk of each of the 4 cows in the first experiment was free from the oxidized and other off flavors at the beginning of the study. As the feeding of cod-liver oil progressed, the fresh milks lost their characteristic flavors of new milk. They became oily, but not the distinct cod-liver oil flavor. On standing, a "goaty" flavor appeared in the milks of cows 1, 2, and 3, whereas the oxidized flavor developed in the milks of cows 1 and 4.

In the second experiment the milks of cows 3 and 4, with only slight exceptions, did not become oxidized. The milks of the other 4 cows, on the other hand, became oxidized apparently as the result of administering cod-liver oil either in the feed or by drenching. During a period of 41 days of drenching, the first milk from cow 1 showed a slightly oily flavor. It was not typically fishy. Later, however, a very strong oxidixed flavor developed which was of the fishy order. The goaty flavor appeared in this experiment only once. It lasted from November 25 to December 4 in the milk of cow 4. In this experiment, the goaty flavor appeared during the latter part of a feeding period and the first few days of the following rest period. This also was true in the three examples of the previous year. The vitamin C, however, was below average when the milk was "goaty" in this experiment, whereas during the first year this flavor was noticeable when the vitamin C was present in abundance.

The following figures in the first experiment show the increases in reduced ascorbic acid in the milk from the check level when no cod-liver oil was fed, to the average of the three high readings when the amount of the oil was given at the highest level: Cow 1, 111 per cent; cow 2, 31.3 per cent; cow 3, 48.1 per cent; and cow 4, 38.3 per cent. The oil was given by drenching in this experiment.

There was no increase in reduced ascorbic acid in the second experiment when the cod-liver oil was mixed with the feed. In case of cow 2, possibly there was a slight increase during the period of 16 days when she received her cod-liver oil by drenching. Cow 1, on the other hand, responded in the same way that she did the first year, for the reduced ascorbic acid in her milk increased from an average of 25.48 mg. per liter during the 25 days preceding the drenching period to 66.43 mg. per liter on the peak day, or an increase of 163 per cent.

¹ The author gratefully acknowledges the assistance of Paul Dean, I. C. Gunsalus, H. L. Lucas, Jr., E. S. Harrison, V. N. Krukovsky, C. M. McCay, and Paul F. Sharp.