30.
asked the Minister of Food when he contemplates a reduction in the extraction rate of flour from wheat in order to provide a whiter loaf.
33.
asked the Minister of Food whether he now has any statement to make on the flour extraction rate.
We have decided to reduce to 80 per cent. the extraction rate of flour used for the national loaf. This will be made up of home-milled national flour with a rate of 81 per cent., and a proportion of imported flour with a lower rate. This change, which will take effect on Sunday, 27th August, will enable the public to get a whiter and more generally acceptable loaf, while still meeting the standards recommended by the Post-War Loaf Conference. It will also add to the quality and quantity of our supplies of animal feedingstuffs.
Does the Minister hold out any immediate prospect of a return to the 1939 standard, which was a little better than that announced now?
Let us take one step at a time.
Is my right hon. Friend aware that the 85 per cent. extraction
It takes account even of that Algerian wine.
Was the right hon. Gentleman's Department moved by the profit motive?
Following are the details:
rate, together with the high consumption of liquid milk, was responsible in the main for the continuously improving conditions in the health of the nation, and will he tell the House now that he does not contemplate any further degradation of that standard?
This is our decision, and on it we stand. We have decided that it was possible to reduce the extraction rate at this point because of the high nutritional value of the extra amounts of other kinds of food which we are now able to supply.
Does this extraction rate have any connection with the rates mentioned in the previous Question, which is to be answered non-orally?
May I ask my right hon. Friend whether, if national conditions make it desirable that we should go back to the previous rate of extraction, that can be carried out in a reasonable time, and, if so, how long?
If it ever were necessary to go back on any decision of this nature, I should imagine that we could do the job within a week.
35.
asked the Minister of Food what is the iron content of wheaten flour at the rates of extraction 85 per cent., 80 per cent. and 72 per cent.
This depends on the grists, that is, the mixtures of wheat. But typical figures for 85, 80 and 72 per cent. extraction rates are 2.1, 1.65, and 1.25 milligrams per 100 grams of flour.
In view of that answer, does not my right hon. Friend realise that a degradation down to 72 per cent. would bring with it a very serious risk of imposing anaemia on a national scale on the people of this country?
We are not proposing to go down to 72 per cent.; the proposal is 80 per cent.
36.
asked the Minister of Food how much wheat is imported as flour; from which countries; and what is the rate of extraction.
In the 12 months ended 30th June, 1950, the quantities of flour imported were about 49,000 tons from Australia, 80,000 from the United States, and 374,000 from Canada. The extraction rate in the first two cases was 72 per cent., and, in the third, 72.58 per cent. The total quantity of wheat represented by these imports of flour was about 700,000 tons.
Can my right hon. Friend give an assurance that wheat of low extraction rate will be used only for cakes and biscuits, and not for making bread, etc.? Can he also assure the public by advertisement that wholemeal bread is freely available and is subsidised in the same way as the other flour?
I have already said that the new national flour will balance the extraction rate of home milled flour with this low extraction rate from outside, and will make it 80 per cent. Outside that the extraction rate of 72 per cent. will go to cake and biscuit manufacturers for export.
Can the Minister say whether the people of the United States are suffering from the diseases anticipated by the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent, Central (Dr. Stross)?