Embedded Files
Island Bay made national news in 1943 wartime New Zealand with the announcement that at a local factory “by the end of July New Zealand should be producing all its own requirements of high vitamin oil”
At the time ‘cod liver’ oil was an important part of people’s diet playing a part in supporting the need for vitamins A and D. It was given to children regularly and was typically despised because of its awful taste, although at some point capsules, able to be swallowed without tasting the contents, became available. It was vigorously supported by the Plunket Society and its founder Sir Truby King, whose Karitane Products factory was near his home in Melrose.
The Auckland Star reported that:
“Extensive additions are nearing completion at the fish oil factory operated at Island Bay by the Karitane Products Society, Ltd., which has invested about £20,000 in the venture. With the plant in full swing, it is expected to step up production to 10,000 gallons of high vitamin oil a year. This is equivalent to the Dominion's pre-war importations of cod liver oil:
“Experiments in the production of these high vitamin oils began in 1939 in an iron shed at Melrose. They were initiated by the society, and the prospect of a complete cessation of imports of cod liver oil during the war years led to the establishment of a small factory at Island Bay in 1941. With the co-operation of fishermen it has been highly successful in the production of an essential food for nursing mothers and babies. Large supplies of fish livers, from which the oil is extracted, have been coming to hand, and a special freezing unit is now being built at the factory to receive consignments which previously had to be stored in the city.
“The Karitane Products Society Ltd., which operates the factory, is not a commercial concern, inasmuch as it has no shareholders, pays no dividends, and has a board of honorary directors. Frozen, the fish livers arrive at the factory in 10-gallon cans from all parts of the Wellington Province. By arrangement, it also takes two-thirds of the entire supply from the South Island. If the livers are not required for immediate processing, they go straight into the freezer.
“The manufacturing of the oil begins when the livers are put through the mincing machines, or disintegrators, to the big open steam digestors in which they are cooked. Shark and ling livers are dealt with in this way for two hours before they are pumped into pans above and then discharged down through a centrefuge by gravity feed. This separates the oil from the water and what is left is about 10 per cent of solids. For the processing of groper and barracouta livers treatment in the digestors for 48 hours is necessary because their oil cells are not so free flowing and have to be broken down.
“The oil, after coming out of the centrefuges, is pumped into storage tanks of 1000 gallons capacity each. The next process is to blend it according to different vitamin values. Cod liver oil, for instance, is made from the blending of ling oil and vegetable oil to pharmaceutical standards of 1000 units of vitamin A and 100 of vitamin D. The Island Bay factory has at present an output of 30cwt to 2 tons of fish liver oil a day.” (7 June 1945)”.
FORESIGHT AND FEELING. Boy: Sixpennorth o' cod liver oil, please, sir. An', I say, don't give me too much, 'cos it's me that's got to drink it. Freelance 24 April 1909
A Plunket (or Karitane?) nurse at a fridge containing Kariol and Karil products, each containing cod liver oil. We are indebted to Steve Costello of the Vintage Bottle Collectors Facebook group for the information that Karil was a Cod Liver Oil & Malt Extract emulsion and Kariol was an emulsion of Milk or Cream with Cod Liver Oil. Kariol came in a tin and Karil in a tin or a jar. Image: https://www.nowtolove.co.nz
After a year Karitane Products reported that five thousand gallons of fish-liver oil from sharks, groper, and ling had been prepared to March, 1944.
“At the commencement of the work technical difficulties of various kinds were encountered and inferior grades of oil were sometimes obtained, but it is now possible to say with confidence that oils of excellent quality and high vitamin value can be produced on a large scale in New Zealand from the livers of locally-caught fish…The oil from the liver of the New Zealand ling is easily produced, clear, attractive and unobjectionable. It is easily tolerated and contains such amounts of vitamins A and D that only small quantities are required to ensure adequate intake of both vitamins. The vitamin A content of ling liver oils produced at Island Bay has been found to vary from 8000 to 15,000 international units a gram, while the vitamin D content remains fairly constant at approximately 500 international units a gram”.
“Groper oil, as now produced, is light in colour, bland in taste, and free from objectionable smell. The vitamin A content of the oil obtained during the year has varied from a maximum of 88,600 international units a gram to a minimum of 35,000 international units a gram in some of the inferior oils. It seems probable that there is considerable seasonal variation in vitamin A potency, and it is hoped in time to collect data on this point. Over the year the average vitamin A potency has been 60,000 international units a gram. A few vitamin D estimations have been made, and values obtained range from 2400 to 4000 international units a gram. It seems likely that groper liver oil will provide an excellent natural concentrate of vitamins A and D as well as a very good raw material for further concentration of these vitamins.
The factory appears to have been on the site of the present Te Herenga Waka Victoria University Marine Laboratory. Its operations seem to have escaped the controversies that have accompanied many other industries in Island Bay – perhaps the ultimate use of the product – ‘saving the babies’ – reduced any potential concerns over smell or the transport of raw materials. Possibly such concerns were there when production first began but were suppressed by the wartime censorship that then applied.
We do know, however that the wartime initiative built on work by a well-known Island Bay community leader.
Local production of fish oil for export to the United Kingdom was pioneered between 1934 and 1938 by John Olive Shorland (for whom Shorland Park is named). He exported a small amount – up 144 gallons each year. Mr Shorland was also a city councillor and a champion long-distance cyclist. [See Southern Bays no. 8 -2012/2013.] His son, Francis Brian Shorland (known as Brian) (left) was born in Island Bay in 1909 an attended Island Bay school. He was to become a leading scientist, completing his PhD in the UK on oils from farm animals and fish, using, among his raw materials, fish oil from New Zealand. He had earlier published scientific papers suggesting that Cook Strait fish had higher levels of Vitamin A than (imported) Cod Liver oil. (See Evening Post, 30 March 1943).
Later research would suggest ways of turning wool into edible protein. With the fall in prices, perhaps this idea’s time has come again!.
Dr Shorland’s career deserves to be better known, as does the local fish oil industry. Please get in touch with the Society if you have memories, documents or knowledge of either.
References: Denz, F.A.; Shorland, F.B. 1934. The composition and vitamin A value of some New Zealand fish-liver oils. New Zealand Journal of Science and Technology 15: 327–331.Cameron, J. 2014. Brian Shorland: Doyen of New Zealand Science (N. Curtis; B. Halton, eds.), New Zealand Association of ScientistsNew Zealand Science Review Vol 75 (2–3) 2019B Halton† Some unremembered chemists:Francis Brian Shorland, OBE, PhD, DSc (L’pool), Hon. DSc(VUW), FRSNZ (1909-1999)*
Google Sites
Report abuse