FLAVOR AND BENZENE HEXACHLORIDE CONTENT OF PEANUTS 23 



BHC and emphasize the value of using high gamma content prepara- 

 tions on soils that may be subsequently used for this crop. In view 

 of the numerous root crops which have been found to develop off- 

 flavors when grown in soils contaminated with BHC, this consideration 

 assumes added significance when such crops may be rotated with 

 those that can be safely treated with BHC. As observed by Jameson 

 and Peacock (10), for example, potatoes grown in soils treated with 

 1 to 4 pounds of BHC per acre developed characteristic off-flavors 

 up to 3 years later. The time required for soil residues to be reduced 

 below the level causing off-flavor correlated with the quantity of 

 BHC applied. BHC of high gamma content is now available at 

 reasonable prices. Its use on soils that are likely to be used sub- 

 sequently for crops that are subject to off-flavor development through 

 contact with soils containing residues of this insecticide would appear 

 to be economically feasible as well as advisable from the point of 

 view of product quality. At current prices, for example, the differ- 

 ence in cost between sufficient quantities of the 13- and 36-percent 

 gamma grades of BHC to provide 3 pounds per acre of gamma 

 would be only 30 cents per acre. 



Also favoring use of the high gamma grade of BHC is its lower 

 content of the beta isomer (pp. 2, 3). 



With respect to chronic toxicity, striking differences in fat storage 

 and in elimination of the several isomers of BHC have been reported. 

 While the gamma and delta isomers are deposited in body fat at the 

 same concentration and the alpha isomer at twice the dietary con- 

 centration, the beta isomer is deposited at 10 times the dietary 

 concentration. The alpha, gamma, and delta isomers are rapidly 

 mobilized and eliminated in 2 to 4 weeks whereas the beta compound 

 requires an estimated 3 to 6 months for complete removal from the 

 body following cessation of exposure to the insecticide (1). 



In evaluating the results of the Holland, Va., and the South Caro- 

 lina studies it is necessary to note that the experiments were not 

 directly comparable even if the assumption is made that such factors 

 as soil type and climatic conditions were without significant effect. 

 In the South Carolina tests the insecticide formulation contained 

 neither sulfur nor DDT, both of which were constituents of the 3-5-40 

 dust used in the Holland, Va., tests. Currently, however, there is 

 no evidence to indicate that either sulfur or DDT, in the quantities 

 used, affects the flavor of peanuts, but it may be necessary to consider 

 the possibility that one or both of these materials may potentiate 

 the development of off-flavors by concurrently present soil residues 

 of BHC. In this connection it may also be pertinent to note that 

 other insecticides tested up to this time on peanuts have not signifi- 

 cantly affected their flavor (7, 8). 



Some of the findings of this study emphasize one of the questions 

 that have occurred frequently in this work: Is the off -flavor, observed 

 in peanuts grown in BHC-contaminated soils due to BHC per se, to 

 decomposition products of BHC, or possibly even to changes in the 

 food product itself caused by physiological response of the plant to 

 the chemical? Musty odors associated with BHC have been attrib- 

 uted to overchlorinated materials such as heptachlorocyclohexanes and 

 octochloroc3^clohexanes (16) and to polychlorocj^clohexenes derived 

 by the removal of chlorine from the polychlorocyclohexanes (13). 

 As noted earlier in describing the results of the peanut butter dilution 



