FISHERY INDUSTRIES OF THE UNITED STATES, 1933 15 



located in (ilouoester, Mass., \Vasliin<!:ton, D. C, and Seattle, Wash., 

 by the following nionibers of our technological staff: Roger W. Har- 

 rison, S. li. Pottinger, Andrew W. Anderson, and Charles F. Lee. 

 Certain details concerning the swordfish-liver oil investigation have 

 been discussed in a previous paragraph of this rei)ort under the head- 

 ing of "Preservation of Fishery Byproducts." The nutrition tests 

 in our Washington laboratories revealed that swordfish-liver oil con- 

 tains from 75 to 100 times as much vitamin D as the United States 

 Pharmacopoeia standard reference cod-liver oil, and from 15 to 25 

 times as much vitamin A as this standard cod-liver oil. Since the 

 United States Pharmacopoeia standard reference cod-liver oil con- 

 tains about 3,000 international vitamin A units and 95 international 

 vitamin D units, this means that swordfish-liver oil contains from 

 45,000 to 75,000 international vitamin A units, and from 7,000 to 

 9,500 international vitamin D units. According to these results, 

 while swordfish-liver oil is not as rich as halibut-liver oil in vitamin A 

 content, it is many times higher in vitamin D. 



OILS FROM SALMON CANNERY TRIMMINGS, SALMON EGGS, AND SALMON 



LIVERS 



During the past year, our Washington Nutrition Laboratory con- 

 tinued vitamin assays of various oils experimentally prepared hj our 

 byproducts section from salmon cannery trimmings, salmon eggs, 

 and salmon livers. The results of our vitamin assaj^s to date have 

 shown that salmon-liver oils are approximately 5 to 20 times as potent 

 in vitamin A and approximately 2 to 3 times as potent in vitamin D 

 as an average medicinal cod-liver oil. The oils prepared from salmon 

 eggs varied considerably, although these compared favorably in 

 vitamin potency with an average medicinal cod-liver oil. The same 

 is, in general, true of oils from cannery trimmings. 



MINERAL CONSTITUENTS OF FISHERY PRODUCTS 



Much has been written in the scientific literature in recent years 

 concerning the increasing importance of minerals in nutrition. 

 Probably no other class of foods ofters so attractive a field of study, 

 in this respect, as fishery products since it is commonly known that 

 these products contain minerals in quantity and variety, many of 

 which have been shown by scientific investigators to be of great 

 importance in both human and animal nutrition. In the State labora- 

 tory at Charleston, S.C., E. J. Coulson, a member of our technological 

 staff, has been making an extensive study of the nutritive value of 

 minerals in fishery products. Chemical analyses of the quantity of 

 these minerals in various fishery products of commercial importance 

 are being made. Following this, these fishery products are fed to 

 laboratory animals to determine the biological value of such minerals. 

 It is hoped that later on it may be possible to extend these mineral 

 nutrition studies to patients in the State hospital or medical clinic in 

 Charleston. While this study, because of its large scope, will neces- 

 sarily require many years for completion, certain portions of it have 

 been completed and the following reports have been prepared for 

 publication by the Bureau: "The Iodine Content of Oj^sters", 

 published as Bureau of Fisheries Memorandum S-334; "Studies on 



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