Abstract
When the alkali digesting process was applied to an extremely fresh liver, a strong emulsion with insoluble protein residues used to occur, resulting in decrease in oil recovery and vitamin A potency. Changes in the vitamin A potency, total and free, were investigated by storing oil samples at a room temperature for 40 days, in brown glass bottles. The vitamin A potency of the oil obtained from fresh liver which had contained little or no free vitamin A, held its potency unchanged for this period, while in that of a somewhat deteriorated liver containing more free vitamin A, the potency dropped to a similar level of the former, and the free vitamin A could not be found in it. These results suggest that the vitamin A potency found higher in the deteriorated liver is of the free vitamin A.
