asked the Minister of Food whether he has made inquiry into the facts that sound bread is despatched from London as bakery sweepings and sold as cattle food; and whether such practices have been stopped?

It has always been the practice of bakers to dispose of, for feeding to animals, any residue of broken and stale bread and dough unfit for bread making. I have made inquiries and I am assured that the particular consignments to which my right hon. Friend has referred were unsuitable for human consumption.

Is my hon. Friend aware that some of this bread was found to be perfectly sound and was actually consumed in Devonshire after having been sent there as cattle food?

In this case we have made elaborate inquiries. If it were true that bread which was suitable for human consumption was used in that way, it would be highly reprehensible; but according to the information which we have received that is not so, and if we were not to use this for animal feeding-stuffs, it would be a net loss to the nation's agricultural effort.