Oxidized Flavor in Milk. VII. Studies of the Effect of Carotene and Ascorbic Acid in the Feed of the Cow on the Susceptibility of the Milk to Metal-Induced Oxidized Flavor

Abstract

Feed was one of the earliest factors known to influence the susceptibility of milk to oxidized flavor. Kende (10) in 1932 reported that oleaginous (oxidized) flavor in milk seemed to occur only during the winter, and that green feed as well as fresh hay produced from it contained considerable amounts of reducing substances which tended to prevent oxidized flavor from developing. Guthrie and Brueckner (9) concluded that dry feed was not the soIe cause of the development of this defect inasmuch as there was a variation in the intensities of the oxidized flavors from different quarters of the same udder. Anderson (1) and co-workers (2) have shown that feeding carrots or artificially dried alfalfa aided in eliminating this defect. Their observations led them to believe that off-flavored milk from individual cows might be caused by dietary deficiencies.