[The efficiency of photometric determination of skatole in slaughtered swine]

In a group of 264 boars, including both cryptorchides and hermaphrodites, skatole was measured using a photometric method developed in Denmark. It resulted in a concentration of skatole equivalents (SE) in the fat of 0.14 ppm in belly tissue and 0.18 ppm in flomen tissue on average, respectively. 10.6% of belly and 16.3% of flomen tissue exceeded the limiting value of 0.25 ppm skatole for boar taint. The photometric determination of skatole is based on a relatively unspecific reaction according to Ehrlich. Therefore, other derivatives of indole concerning the decomposition of tryptophan are recorded, and the results must be declared as SE. In comparison with HPLC, the photometric method yields values that are too high, indole is always found with skatole in a considerable amount, and the other skatole equivalents seem to play a subordinate part.