§ Sir E. Graham-Littleasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food whether the Minister has yet by order prescribed the constituents of the so-called national wheat-loaf; and, if not, what steps he has taken, or is taking, to ensure that the loaf so prescribed is made of flour of at least 85 per cent. extraction?
Major Lloyd GeorgeMy Noble Friend has instructed controlled flour millers to make available national wheatmeal of a minimum extraction of 85 percent., milled to standards approved by his scientific and technical advisers, at the same price as national straight run flour. He has no reason to suppose that bakers would describe as national wheatmeal bread made from other types of flour.
§ Sir E. Graham-Littleasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food whether he is aware that approximately 1,500,000 tons of wheat-feed are extracted annually by millers from the wheat in the process of making white flour and used as animal food; that this wheat-feed contains the germ and the bran and therefore the greater part of the vitamins and mineral salts; whether, in the event of a serious shortage of shipping this valuable food will be diverted from animals to human beings; and at what short notice the millers will be able to adjust their mills to enable them to retain the grain in providing the national loaf?
Major Lloyd GeorgeThe answer to the first part of the Question is in the affirmative; generally speaking millers can produce a flour of 85 percent. extraction 923W without major adjustment to their machinery and without loss of working time.