Functional properties such as bulk density, water and oil absorption, foam capacity and stability, and viscosity of five raw and precooked taro (Colocasia esculenta) flours were studied. Proximate analyses of the taro flours indicated they were low in fat, protein and ash, but rich in starch and total dietary fibre. Heat processing affected the functional properties of taro flour. The raw taro flours were slightly different from each other for the tests on bulk density, water retention, and viscosity. On the other hand, the cooked flours showed no significant differences for the tests on oil retention, gelation and foaming.

The activity of a crude enzyme preparation.extracted from hepatopancreas of the freshwater prawn, Macrobrachium-rosenbergii, was assayed for collagenolytic, trypsinolytic, orchymotrypsinolytic, and pepsinolytic activities against collagen, lyophilized prawn tissue, and artificial substrates. At optimum pH for each activity, the enzyme preparation had collagenolytic activitiy, slight trypsinolytic and ol-chymotrypsinolytic activities; and no pepsinolytic activity. Of the commercial enzymes tested, only collagenase significantly degraded lyoph@zed prawn tissue. These results suggest that the -. prawn enzyme preparation may contain a collagenolytic portion which might affect the texture of the prawn.

Textural changes of freshwater prawn during ice-chilled/refrigerated storage are believed in part to be due to an autolytic process. A collagenolytic enzyme fraction, isolated from the hepatopancreas of the freshwater prawn, was most active at 37°C and pH 6.5-7.5 and was also active at 0"C. The addition of this enzyme fraction to prawn tissue increased the hydrolysis of prawn collagen at O'C for 96 hr indicating that this enzyme fraction might be responsible for the textural change in prawn during ice-chilled storage.

The fate of ochratoxin A (OA) was studied in goats given a single oral dose of 3H-OA (0.5 mg/kg). More than 90% of the radioactivity was found to be excreted in 7 days and the majority (53%) was found in feces. Thirty-eight percent, 6% and 2.26% of the activity was found in urine, milk and serum, respectively. The radioactivity in the liver and kidney 6 hours after feeding amounted to 1.5 and 0.5% of the total dose administered, respectively. Subsequent fractionation of liver and kidney homogenates revealed that microsomes, ribosomes and post-ribosomal supernatant fractions contained most radioactivity. Thin layer chromatographic analyses revealed two additional radioactive spots with Rf values and fluorescent characteristics different from OA, Oalpha and 4-OH-OA. Whereas OA was found as the unaltered molecule in feces, the metabolites were primarily found in urine and milk. Less than 0.03% of free OA was found in milk during the 7-day period.