§ Mr. Beaneyasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, with reference to the Annual Report of the National Food Survey Committee on Domestic Food Consumption and Expenditure in 1964, what proportion of the children in the survey was in families whose diet was below the minimum standard of energy value or nutrient content as recommended by the British Medical Association.
§ Mr. HoyThe diets of individual families cannot be assessed in the National Food Survey, but averages are given for the diets of households grouped according to family size. The British Medical Association did not recommend minimum standards. Its recommendations for nutrients incorporate considerable safety factors, and those for protein and calcium are, as stated in paragraph 73 of the National Food Survey Committee Report for 1964, "recognised as particularly generous". On average the protein allowances are 30 per cent. to 50 per cent. higher than, and the calcium168W allowances about double, those recommended recently by FAO/WHO Expert Groups. In 1964 about two-thirds (64 per cent.) of all the children in the survey were in types of household for which the averages for protein and calcium fell below allowances based on the British Medical Association recommendations by from 3 per cent. to 13 per cent.; but the diets in none of these types of household fell below the recommendations for energy or any other nutrient.