A NEW INDUSTRY

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 05, Issue 58, 27 May 1942, Page 6

A NEW INDUSTRY

OIL FROM SHARK LIVERS AN AUSTRALIAN ENTERPRISE New industries are springing up like mushrooms in Australia, under the pressure of necessity. Using fish livers which, before the Avar, were discarded as waste, a Melbourne company is manufacturing a vitaminised oil equal in standard to the world's best, it promises to prove an invaluable aid to Australian health. The company has spent between £.'}(),000 and 000 in research and initial 1 costs, and is now in a position to guarantee io the Medical Control Committee provision of Australia's complete requirements of vitaminised oil —estimated at 80,000 gallons a year. The new oil is obtained from the liver of the sehnapper shark, thousands of which are caught each year in Victorian waters. As oleum vitaminatum, it conforms to the British pharmaceutical' standard of 1000 international units of Vitamin A and 100 international units of Vitamin D to the gramme. The company has one of the few spectraphotometrers in Australia for determining Vitamin A concentrations in oil. A stall' of six expert chemists is working constantly, examining the livers of other lis]] caught in Australian Avaters, particularly tuna, which is largely used in America for manufacturing vitaminised oil. Establishment of this new industry in Australia is a twofold benefit. It provides a valuable market for Victorian fishermen, who catch about 1000 sehnapper shark each week, and it relieves pressure on importations of vitaminised oils from Newfoundland and Ui'iUun.