BIOTIN CONTENT OF MEAT AND MEAT PRODUCTS 1 The biotin ...

70 B. S. SCHWEIGER! AND OTHERS
ing pork loin. The total retention of biotin in the meat plus
drippings ranges from 63 to 88% of the biotin present in the
uncooked meat. The amount of biotin found in the drippings
was very small, ranging from 1 to 5% of the total amount
of biotin present in the original meat. This indicates that a
very small amount of biotin leached out of the meat during
cooking in contrast to higher amounts of thiamine, nicotinic
acid and riboflavin that were found in the drippings as re
ported by Mclntire et al. ( '43) and Schweigert et al. ( '43).
The destruction of biotin during cooking is very likely due
to the formation of the oxidized form of biotin, which is not
utilized by Lactobacillus casei (Nielsen, Shull and Peterson,
'42).
SUMMARY
1. Biotin content of various meat products has been deter
mined by the Lactobacillus casei method.
2. Kidney and liver were the richest sources of biotin.
Heart, pancreas, and dark and light chicken meat were good
sources. Beef spleen, lung, brain, and tongue contain about
the same amount of biotin as pork, beef, veal and lamb muscle
meats. Pork loins and hams averaged 50 mug. of biotin per
gram of fresh tissue.
3. An average of 11% of the biotin was retained in the
meat alone after cooking, and an average of 80% was retained
in the meat plus drippings after cooking.
4. From 1-5% of the biotin present in the original meat was
recovered in the drippings after cooking.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors wish to express their thanks to Dr. Catherine
J. Personius, Professor of Home Economics, for cooking the
meats, and to Mr. Robert W. Bray, of the Animal Husbandry
Department, for selecting and cutting the meats used in the
cooking experiments.
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