§ Sir E. Graham-Littleasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food whether he is aware that in the United States of America, and in Canada, the process of adding additional water to wheat being prepared for milling, is not permitted, as such a procedure conflicts with the pure food laws of those countries; and whether there is any similar prohibition operating in this country?
Major Lloyd Geogre:My Noble Friend is not aware of legislation of the type referred to in the Question. The problems of the miller in the United States and Canada, where wheat is of similar moisture content, are very different from those of the miller in this country who uses grists containing a blend of various kinds of imported and home produced wheats, the moisture content of which may vary from 11 per cent. to 20 per cent. To produce a satisfactory flour the moisture contents of the various wheats forming a blend must be the same at the time they are milled. The miller, therefore, must extract moisture from English and other damp wheats, and may increase the moisture content of the drier types of imported wheat. The moisture content of flours produced from a blend of English and foreign wheats seldom varies more than between 15 and 15J per cent. The moisture content of all-English flour may be as high as 16 or 16J per cent, but is, in any case, less than that of the wheat from which it is milled.