Bulk commercial grain, such as soybeans and wheat, may be contaminated with nongrain impurities, including sicklepod seeds (Cassia obtusifolia), that coexist with the crop to be harvested. The present study was undertaken to determine the content of the major anthraquinone constituents of sicklepod seeds, as well as carbohydrate, fat, mineral, and amino acid (protein) content. Thin-layer chromatography, ultraviolet spectroscopy, and combined gas chromatography-mass spectrometry revealed the presence of known and unknown anthraquinone derivatives. Known compounds include chrysophanic acid, physcion, obtusofolin, emodin, questin, obtusin, chrysoobtusin, aurantioobtusin, and others. Rapid thinlayer chromatographic procedures were developed to screen sicklepod seeds for anthraquinone derivatives.These procedures also revealed the presence of /J-sitosterol and of flavonoids, UV-quenching compounds, and fluorescent blue compounds of unknown structure. The described methodology should facilitate screening large numbers of samples both in the laboratory and under practical field conditions. The data provide a rational basis for relating seed composition to reported muscle-damaging and other toxicological effects of sicklepod, for assessing the significance of low levels of the seeds in diets of foodproducing animals and humans, and for setting grain standards.

SUMMARY THREE EXPERIMENTS were conducted to evaluate the preventative and remedial effect of α‐tocopherol on the development of fishy flavor in turkeys fed fish oils. It was found that about 200 mg/kilo α‐tocopherol acetate afforded optimum prevention of fishy flavor in turkeys fed as much as 2% tuna oil in their rations. Withdrawal of fish oil and beef fat substitution for 2 wk before slaughter, caused some decline in fishiness. The addition of α‐tocopherol to the beef fat diet significantly accelerated the decline of fishiness in breast meat. It was also noted that the oil (tuna) used in these experiments contain many fold higher levels of long chain linolenates (ω‐3 fatty acids) than other fish meals (oils) used to feed poultry. There, it is more than a specious argument to assume that less o‐tocopherol acetate would be required to achieve the same effect with such oils since fishiness is related to linolenate content. Tocopherol injection 72, 48 and 24 hr before slaughter was as effective as feeding it concomitantly with fish oil in the reduction of fishiness in the thigh meat and skin. The same trend was noted for breast meat although not statistically significant. Further work is needed to more accurately assess the value of injection. Fatty acid distribution analyses were performed on the extracted lipids from the breast meat of turkeys from all treatments. In general, the results were as expected.

Steam-distilled volatiles from the extracted oil of cooked tuna fish were fractionated and identified by g.c.-ms. There were 64 compounds identified in the oxygenated fraction and 62 in the hydrocarbon fraction. The hydrocarbon fraction was found to have an unusually low odour threshold of 5.0 parts/lOg (in water) and 3.75 parts/lOg when a solvent correction factor was applied. As expected, the odour threshold of the oxygenated fraction was much lower (0.6 parts/lOg and 0.51 parts/lOg when corrected).

This paper reports the GC-MS identification of many of the compounds found in the volatiles of roasted turkeys that had been fed a basal diet supplemented with beef fat or tuna oil (TO) or with TO plus alphatocopherol acetate and presents a case for which of these 41 compounds are likely to play a role in fishy flavor.

Six healthy men were fed a formula diet with and without oat bran and a natural food diet typical of rural Guatemala. No significant difference in dye transit time was found between diets but the Guatemalan diet significantly decreased dye retention time and increased stool frequency. Serum cholesterol and triglyceride levels showed no significant differences among dietary treatments. Excretion of fecal bile acids significantly increased on the Guatemalan and oat bran diets, but fecal bile acid concentration was significantly lower only on the Guatemalan diet. Urinary urobilinogen excretion and fecal urobilinogen concentration were significantly lower with the Guatemalan diet.