A survey of vitamin A concentrations in the liver of food- producing animals

摘要

High oral doses of vitamin A have been shown to be teratogenic and accordingly the World Health Organi- zation has recommended that the daily intake for pregnant women should not exceed 3.3 mg. Liver con- tains high concentrations of this vitamin an conse- quently it has become necessary to assess its level in the livers of food animals. A survey of fresh, frozen imported and home-produced retail liver samples from calf (42), ox (121), lamb (228), pig (133) and chicken (125) was carried out between August 1992 and April 1993 using a modified version of the method of Ashoor and Knox (1987) to determine retinol and retinyl esters.