The effectiveness of reduced dosage levels of activated carbon in counteracting the off-flavor in potatoes grown on soil treated with benzene hexachloride

The effectiveness of different amounts of activated carbon applied to benzene hexachloride-treated soil in preventing off-flavor in potatoes grown on that soil has been studied with palatability tests. Activated carbon in dosages of 10, 50, and 100 pounds per acre did not eliminate the off-flavor in potatoes grown in soil treated with benzene hexachloride at 2, 2.5, 4, 7.5, and 37.5 pounds per acre up to four years earlier. Moreover, in these experiments there was no differential response to the various levels of activated carbon and no relation between the effectiveness of activated carbon and the level of benzene hexachloride applied originally to the soil. The flavor of benzene hexachloride from the samples tasted first tended to decrease rather than increase the off-flavor score in succeeding samples in the same test.