Light-Induced Destruction of Vitamin A in Milk

The vitamin A content of whole, 2%, and skim milk was determined before and after exposure to 2200 lx intensity fluorescent light for up to 48 h at refrigerator temperature. The milk was packaged in plastic pouches. Vitamin A of whole milk dropped to 67.7% of its original content after 30 h and remained constant for a further 18 h. In 2% milk it dropped to 23.6% and in skim milk to 4.2% of the original content. The 2% milk had an original vitamin A content about twice as high as that of whole or skim milk.