§ Mr. Hendersonasked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will review the purchasing policy of his Department to consider an increase in the amount of canned fish purchased.
§ Mr. DuffyThe messing system in the Forces allows each unit's caterer to spend up to a specified sum daily on food for each man, obtaining his supplies from Service depots and from NAAFI. Within that cash limit the caterer is required to provide a nutritionally sound diet which also takes account of unit preferences. The Ministry of Defence, therefore, needs to pay careful regard to trends in consumption when determining what quantities and types of food to purchase, and does not seek to influence units' freedom of choice. If an item is popular and attractively priced caterers will automatically tend to make more use of it in arranging their menus. This applies to canned fish as to all other items.