No abstract

Large quantities of meat have been dehydrated during the war period. Many of these products have been stored for considerable periods of time or shipped over long distances. It is important, therefore, to know not only the composition of the meat shortly after processing but to follow the retention of the vitamins during storage.This study has been limited largely to the proximate composition and the thiamin, riboflavin, and niacin content of commercial samples of dehydrated pork and corned-beef hash immediately after production and after definite periods of storage. A few folic acid and biotin determinations have also been included. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDUREThe samples were collected in Chicago by workers at the University of Chicago where the proximate analyses, thiamin, and some of the riboflavin determinations were made. Aliquots were taken from each sample and sent to the University of Wisconsin for the other analyses.Proximate analyses were made according to Methods of Analysis, fourth edition, of the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists.Thiamin-method of Hennessy (1942). Riboflavin-method of Snell and Strong (1939) at Wisconsin and Peterson, Rrady, and Shaw (1943) at Chicago.The samples for microbiological assay were hydrolyzed with 50 C.C. of 0.1 N HC1 at 15 pounds pressure f o r 20 minutes and cooled, after which two grams of papain dissolved in five C.C. of 2.5 M sodium acetate were added and the mixture incubated at 37" C. (98.6"F.) overnight under toluene. This digest was then neutralized, filtered, and extracted by shaking with ether and the aqueous solution made to volume, according to McIntire, Schweigert, Henderson, and Elvehjem (1943 ) .Niacin-samples prepared and assayed according t o the procedure of Krehl, Strong, and Elvehjem (1943). Biotin-method of Shull, Hutchings, and Peterson (1942) with the modified medium reported by Shull and Peterson (1943). The samples were hydrolyzed by autoclaving with 4 N sulfuric acid for two hours at 15 pounds pressure.Folic acid-samples assayed for X. faecalis activity against a standard of solubilized liver and the results were then expressed in terms of vital