Gastric juice is produced by which organ?

• A. The liver
• B. The pancreas
• C. The stomach
• D. The small intestine

Answer: (C)

Gastric juice is produced by the stomach. The stomach’s lining contains gastric glands that secrete this digestive juice into the stomach cavity, delivering hydrochloric acid to create a highly acidic environment and pepsinogen, which is activated to the enzyme pepsin to start protein digestion, along with protective mucus. The liver and pancreas are involved in other secretions—bile from the liver helps digest fats, and pancreatic juice (rich in enzymes and bicarbonate) is released into the small intestine—while the small intestine also contributes its own secretions. So the stomach is the organ that manufactures gastric juice.