HC Deb 05 May 1955 vol 540 cc155-6W
Mr. Bollard

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether, in view of the scientific and medical evidence which has become available since the post-war Loaf Conference in 1945, he will arrange for an authoritative assessment to be made of the differences in composition and nutritional value of flour of varying extraction rates.

Mr. Amory

Yes. I have decided, in conjunction with my right hon. Friends the Secretary of State for Scotland and the Minister of Health, to arrange for an independent authoritative review of the scientific and medical evidence now available in regard to this matter.

At my request Lord Adrian, President of the Royal Society, has been good enough to nominate for the conduct of this review a panel of persons of accepted authority representative of scientific and medical opinion. They are as follows:

Professor Sir Henry Cohen, M.D., F.R.C.P., J.P., Professor of Medicine, University of Liverpool (Chairman).

Professor L. J. Witts, D.M., F.R.C.P., Professor of Clinical Medicine, University of Oxford.

Professor J. H. Gaddum, Sc.D., M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., F.R.S., Professor of Materia Medica, University of Edinburgh.

A. C. Chibnall, Esq., Ph.D., Sc.D., F.R.S., formerly Professor of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge.

Professor R. A. Morton, Ph.D., D.Sc, F.R.I.C, F.R.S., Professor of Biochemistry, University of Liverpool.

The formal terms of reference of the Panel are:

New Zealand beef about 21 per cent. and 24 per cent., respectively.

In light of the scientific and medical evidence now available—

(1) to determine the differences in composition and nutritive value between

  1. (a) National flour as defined in the Flour Order, 1953;
  2. (b) flour of extraction rates less than National flour as defined in the Flour Order, 1953, to which the three token nutrients have been restored;
  3. (c) flour of extraction rates less than National flour as defined in the Flour Order, 1953, to which the three token nutrients have not been restored; and

(2) to advise

whether any such differences are significant from the point of view of the health of the population.