Abstract: Lord Woolton, the Minister of Food, stated in the House of Lords, on March 11th, that “to reduce the tonnage used for the transport of wheat” the Government had decided to increase to 85 per cent. the ratio of flour from the wheat milled in this country; and that it will be illegal to sell, except under licence, any “white” bread from April 6th. In the discussion that followed, Lord Horder stated that he and his medical colleagues were satisfied that no other step concerning the nation's food was so calculated to raise the level of the nation's nutrition. He added that there was no evidence that 85 per cent. extraction flour is indigestible; and that where bread of any kind is permissible in diseases of the digestive system, it may be given with impunity. Moreover, Sir Ernest Graham Little, M.D., has rendered a great service to the public by his oft‐repeated and strong advocacy, in the House of Commons, of better bread than that which constitutes the “white loaf.” The unanimous verdict of those who are best qualified to express an opinion supports the conclusion that adequate nutrition is the prime requirement for the physical well‐being of mankind. Neglect this and all other hygienic props fail to support us. It is deplorable, therefore, that so little has been done hitherto in the sphere of national welfare to support the findings of science in favour of the more adequate loaf which has been so powerfully advocated for years. It is no exaggeration to state that the “white loaf” has been a real impediment to an improvement in the hygienic development of the growing child; as the “national loaf” (which will be superior to the “standard bread” of the last war) will not only reduce the tonnage for the transport of wheat, but will also greatly benefit the children, more especially those of the poorer section of the community with whom bread is the main food. Although from a standpoint of nutrition the “National” loaf falls short of the desirable “Wholemeal” loaf, it certainly represents a valuable step in the right direction. As the much impoverished wheat of the “white loaf” is a matter for considerable national concern, it is an anomaly that it should be permitted, seeing that similar impoverishments of natural foodstuffs have for long been punishable by law. For instance, prosecutions and fines for the watering of milk occupy pages of most issues of The British Food Journal . Why, then, should the serious reduction of the valuable mineral matter and vitamins of the wheat used for the wheaten loaf be suffered to continue? The general public do not readily accept guidance upon what they should eat, and it is unlikely that they will have displayed a concerted predilection for the “national loaf” by the time the war ends. But by then much will have been gained by the reduction of prejudice and the increased accommodation which even short phases of custom can confer. Therefore the war‐time expedient of a “national loaf” may very usefully contribute to the perpetuity of its advantages. If we are wise, propaganda to this end will be maintained meanwhile, and be made to develop in power and authority during the early clays of peace. If the Government and the Local Health Authorities are in default in impressing, and (if need be) imposing such a major interest to the nation, the passing of the “white loaf” will soon be followed by its return. Especially is it to be hoped that the Ministry of Health will then give greater support to the advocacy of a better loaf than hitherto. The British Food Journal has often given expression to the public need for an improved loaf, and if this is destined to become an accomplished fact it will partake of the nature of a crowning event to our modest efforts.

Abstract: The factories are instructed as to what kinds of pack they are to produce, and their product is controlled by samples sent at specified times to the research laboratory. With greater and less attention to detailed steps the whole of agriculture and the food industry in Italy is so controlled. In Germany can be noted as an example the development on a large scale of the fishing industry in the Baltic—the scrapping of the privately‐owned small fishing boats in that sea—the launching of large vessels with their factory vessels in attendance— the keenness with which every step in the development of fish preservation has been followed—the official tests on such methods as the American Birdseye Quick Freezing, the German Heckerman process, the English Z process, and the building and the equipping of the large factories where the whole of the waste fish products are worked up into edible and useful products. This last is the keynote of the German system : waste nothing. The recovery of waste fats has been practised in Germany in an intensive fashion for several years. There have been in Germany other changes of a more subtle character, and not so obvious to the outside world. The food laws of Germany were such that the nation could be justly proud of them, but for some time there has been a distinct slackening of the control—as for example in the use of preservatives. These were strictly limited in kind and number—but even before the present phase the blind eye of the official had often been turned towards the use of disallowed preservatives and I am given to understand that certain chemicals, erstwhile forbidden, can now be used officially. It may be policy for our Ministry of Health to aid in the present critical situation by relaxing some of the regulations at present in force. Those preservatives to be released would not in any way lower the nutritional value of the foods, nor would there be allowed any of those preservatives against which a case has been made in respect of their physiological action. The impetus given to research work by totalitarian states should be an inspiration to the democracies. One of the first things the Italian Government took in hand after their conquest of Abyssinia was a scientific survey of the natural products of the country. A recent issue of Nature states that the first number of a new official Italian journal contains the results of the first three years' work on the fish of the inland waters of the former Ethiopia. As Nature points out, the far greater areas of British Eastern Africa have been subjected simply to spasmodic and short‐termed scientific examinations, chiefly resulting from the initiative of private individuals or of institutions. It is to be stressed, however, that the stimulus given to scientific studies of food production and manufacture both in Germany and Italy was activated by abnormal conditions. In neither the one nor the other can it be said that the development was a natural one—in both it was originated by the desire of the government to make the country as self‐sufficient as possible in case of war, and therefore the whole idea was abnormal and biased. In this country and in the United States the development has followed much sounder lines. In this country the standard of living has become remarkably high, although perhaps somewhat lop‐sided. One might quote the example of bread. The loaf as we know it to‐day is made almost wholly from wheat flour, derived from that portion of the wheat kernel which gives the whitest flour. The Ministry of Health has, I think, been very properly concerned to maintain our high standard and has looked with disfavour on flours which, in order to simulate that particular white portion of the wheat grain, have been bleached. America is the only other country in the world where the people demand white loaves of such delicate and even texture. There much be something very attractive to the public in this type of loaf: some of us remember the fiasco of the standard bread, and members of the bakery trade know what a small proportion of their sales are concerned with brown loaves. The general character of the bread in continental European countries is very different; even the delightful loaves of France, generally well baked, are dark in comparison, although in no sense “ brown ” or “ whole‐meal.” In most countries flours other than wheat are incorporated. We may have to incorporate potato‐flour, but if this is done in any large quantity the resultant loaf has an entirely different texture. It is obvious that the dividing line between the scope of agriculture and that of the food industry is essentially ill‐defined. The importance, however, of the pre‐industrial treatment is such that it is really impossible to dissociate the scientific work of the agriculturalist from that of the industrialist. To quote examples :— Under the aegis of the Food Investigation Board a study has been made of the production of bacon in this country, with remarkably successful results to the farmer, to the bacon‐curer and to the consumer. Similarly the extensive series of experiments carried out by the Food Investigation Board on the storage of fruit has had great success, and the economic effect on the fruit trade, not only here, but also in the Dominions and Colonies cannot be estimated at the moment. An agricultural study of great importance to the housewife was undertaken by the Potato Marketing Board; this was concerned with the blackening of potatoes and was unfortunately not concluded when the war brought a sudden halt to the work. The problem of obtaining “ figures ” for characteristics of food is the most difficult with which the chemist has to deal. There is no method by which palatability can be registered, for it is compounded of many factors which themselves are not possible of measurement. Flavour, appearance and edibility are all concerned. It is comparatively simple to connect softness on the palate of a cream centre of a chocolate with the size of the grain of the sugar crystals, or the smoothness of an ice cream with the size of the ice‐crystals, but to express the texture of a cake in terms measuring the reaction of the palate, or the toughness or tenderness of a beef‐steak are far more difficult. This last example has been considered in some detail. Much work has been done at the Low Temperature Station at Cambridge on methods of judging the tenderness of meat. There is no simple method of reproducing the complicated movement of the jaws in mastication—but the consumer of the steak judges the tenderness by the reactions of his jaws to the muscle fibre, and the problem is complicated by the fact that the judgment of a person with a denture is entirely different from that of a person with his natural teeth; it has been estimated, for example, that the pressure which can be applied during mastication is only, even by those with the most perfect denture, one tenth that of normal. A somewhat complicated instrument has been designed and constructed at the Research Station at Karlsruhe in order to make possible investigations on the problem of the toughness of meat. Sufficient data have not yet been accumulated to pass judgment on its efficiency but it appears to be the most satisfactory attempt yet made to enable definite measurements of the toughness of meat to be determined. These are but examples of the general trend of scientific work in food production and manufacture, examples of the range of subjects and problems being attacked with an ever increasing vigour.

Abstract: I think that psychologically it is most important that, as long as possible, every effort should be made to maintain the supply of foods enabling dishes of an attractive character to be produced. The morale of the big cities must be maintained, and as a large proportion of the population in these cities takes at least one meal a day in a public eating‐place, and, moreover, as the housewife relies on the pastrycook for an ever increasing proportion of her non‐basic foods, not to mention the basic foods themselves, every effort must be made to maintain producers of foods in such a position that they are able to supply cakes, confectionery, biscuits and so on. And in suggesting this I am being a realist; I have experienced the depression of the “ Berliner ” when it became impossible for this kind of food to be bought except by the very rich or the very powerful. It is, in fact, not sufficient to provide the necessary calories, the necessary vitamins, the necessary “trace” elements, as the Americans have called them; the method of presentation must be studied, for this is of vital importance in the maintenance of good health. From the scientific point of view it is deplorable that six months had to pass before the Ministry of Food appointed a scientific adviser. Dr. Drummond's influence in that capacity should help to straighten out some of the muddles into which the Ministry have apparently been led. It is obvious that our vaunted preparedness did not extend to the realm of food. One important point must be borne in mind, namely, that although the Ministry did not appoint a scientific adviser until February, 1940, they had at their disposal the experts of the Food Investigation Board and of those research associations in food science which I have already mentioned. Possibly, therefore, the Ministry would consider that it was sufficiently well served, and that these bodies would have been able to produce the briefs on which the Minister could plead. But the Food Investigation Board—and I am speaking as an exmember of that body—is essentially equipped for long‐distance research work, and not for the solution of problems of immediate importance. No one has greater respect for the work of fundamental importance which the staff of the Food Investigation Board have produced than I, but except for practical problems concerned with a limited number of food products—beef tendering, bacon curing, fruit preservation—they are not in direct touch with practice. It has been a very sound policy to restrict the activities of their staffs to the solution of problems of fundamental nature, the results of which, when published, would be applied to practical problems by the chemists attached to foods producing firms. I cannot pass from this section without comment on the very admirable statement of certain aspects of the work of the Research Associations clearly expressed by the Director of the Research Associations of British Flour Millers, Dr. Moran, in the journal Milling recently. He gives in a few clear sentences his understanding of the functions of a research association. His words are: “The research association has four clear functions: (1) as a sentinel of progress and development not only in this country but throughout the world; (2) to carry out continuously research which the individual miller—certainly the small miller—could not undertake; (3) to deal with the day‐to‐day problems of members; (4) generally to improve the efficiency of the industry and the quality of its products by the greater application of scientific methods.” The degree to which these functions are realised by any association is an excellent yardstick by which to measure its success. The milling industry of the country is to be congratulated that the director of their research association has such definite ideas, and the country as a whole is to be congratulated that the council of at least one research association in food is sufficiently alive to the importance of their duties to allow such statements as I have quoted to be published. It certainly stimulates interest and confirms the faith which should be placed in science as applied to a basic industry. The food manufacturer has, naturally, been rationed in respect of raw materials, as have been the members of the public. Fats, sugar and meat have been available in decreased quantities, but with the advent of rationing a distinct lessening of wastage of food follows and no real difficulties of shortage have become apparent. The attention of chemists has however, been directed to “ alternatives.” I object to the word “ substitute,” because in the minds of the majority this suggests something inferior. In many cases the alternative is to use something more expensive, something which under normal conditions would not be used. For example, at the moment glucose, more expensive than cane sugar, has taken the place of a portion of the usual sugar; lactose, the sugar of milk, is being used although it costs about twice as much as cane sugar and has a sweetening power far below that of the usual sugar. But sugars are not only used for sweetening, as so many people seem to think. Their presence in a cake or other bakery product has a most important chemical or physicochemical action on the gelatinisation of the starch of the flour, and an adequate amount of sugar is therefore essential if the character of the product is not to be impaired. The use of alternatives is not to be confused with sophistication; the replacement of non‐available constituents must be differentiated from the dressing‐up of one thing to make it look like another. The artificial colouring of a cake with a brown colour and the description of the resultant product as a chocolate cake, is to be condemned, although such a cake may be as nutritious as the cake to which chocolate powder had been added. The caffeine of coffee and tea is of importance in giving a slight feeling of stimulation to the tired worker, and therefore roasted cereals, as supplied in Germany during the last war, and again to‐day, cannot be considered alternatives for coffee, neither can mixture of fruit leaves take the place of tea. It is to the scientist that Germany owes the development of her substitute and alternative foods. These substitutes and alternatives are far better than those Germany had in 1914–18, because very early on she enlisted her chemists, or rather those who had not been expelled, into the service of her Four Year Food Plan. Chemical research in the totalitarian states is in practice Government‐controlled—in practice only because in theory there has been no bar to private investigation—but the Four Year Plan in Germany as applied to food entailed the direction of food investigations by State officials and although not so obvious in Italy, the same thing obtained there for a number of years. The natural outcome is control of food production. An interesting example is to be found in the tomato‐growing districts in Italy. Through the research station at Parma the farmers and the factories dealing with tomatoes are definitely directed. The former are told what seed to plant, how much, how to till their land, how to manure it, when to gather their crops, how much to gather, the quantity to pack as fresh fruit, the quantity to send to the factories to be made into purée.