Flavor and Benzene Hexachloride Content 

 of Peanuts Grown in Rotation With 

 Cotton Dusted With Insecticides 

 Containing Benzene Hexachloride 



By Howard Reynolds and Gladys L. Gilpin, Human Nutrition Research 

 Branch, and Irwin Hornstein, Entomology Research Branch, Agricultural 

 Research Service x 



INTRODUCTION 



Studies previously carried out in the United States Department of 

 Agriculture have shown that the direct application of benzene hexa- 

 chloride (BHC), either as the technical grade or as lindane, to soils in 

 which peanuts are to be grown may result in definitely off-flavored 

 products (7, ll). 2 On the basis of these findings and in view of the 

 fact that BHC had already been implicated as causing off-flavors in 

 several products, notably potatoes, the Bureau of Entomology and 

 Plant Quarantine has recommended that neither technical BHC nor 

 lindane be applied directly to the soil in which peanuts are to be 

 planted in the season of application or in which they are already 

 growing. However, left unanswered was the further question as to 

 whether soils previously planted with cotton that was dusted or 

 sprayed with BHC might contain sufficient residues of the insecticide 

 to result in off-flavors in peanuts grown in rotation with the cotton. 

 The importance of this question was emphasized in 1947 and 1948 

 when a number of commercial processors reported the occurrence of 

 undesirable off-flavors in peanut butter and candies made with some 

 lots of peanuts. 



To obtain information on the possibility that off-flavors may de- 

 velop in peanuts that follow BHC-treated cotton, cooperative studies 

 were initiated by the Production and Marketing Administration, the 

 Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine, the Bureau of Plant 

 Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Engineering, and the Bureau of 

 Human Nutrition and Home Economics of the United States Depart - 



1 The authors are indebted to the Agricultural Marketing Service for financial 

 assistance in obtaining the 1950 peanut and soil samples and to the Entomology 

 Research Branch for their collection; to Fred W. Poos and Lorin C. Fife, Ento- 

 mology Research Branch, for supplying the 1951 and 1952 peanut and soil samples; 

 and to Robert D. Chisholm and Louis Koblitsky, Entomology Research Branch, 

 for preparing the soil samples for analysis. They are indebted also to Victor R. 

 Boswell and staff, Horticultural Crops Research Branch, for preparing the pean- 

 nut butter and to the following members of the Human Nutrition Research 

 Branch: Elsie H. Dawson for advice on planning the palatability studies; Eleanor 

 L. Geissenhainer and Ruth A. Redstrom for assistance in carrying out the palata- 

 bility studies; and Albert B. Parks and Elsie F. Dochterman for statistical designs 

 and analysis of the data. 



2 Italic figures in parentheses refer to Literature Cited, p. 25. 



