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From earliest times the land and all it produced to feed and sustain those who dwelt on it was mankind's greatest asset. From the Biblical “land of milk and honey”, down through history to the “country of farmers” visualised by the American colonists when they severed the links with the mother country, those who had all their needs met by the land were blessed — they still are! The inevitable change brought about by the fast‐growing populations caused them to turn to industry; Britain introduced the “machine age” to the world; the USA the concept of mass production — and the troubles and problems of man increased to the present chaos of to‐day. There remained areas which depended on an agri‐economy — the granary countries, as the vast open spaces of pre‐War Russia; now the great plains of North America, to supply grain for the bread of the peoples of the dense industrial conurbations, which no longer produced anything like enough to feed themselves.

The following are portions of a paper, bearing the title as above, which was read before the Royal Society of Arts on April 18th, 1945, by Sir Edward V. Appleton, LL.D., F.R.S., the Secretary of the Department; Sir Henry Dale, P.R.S., presiding.

IT is known that the Library Association Council has devoted watchful care to the position of libraries in the event of war. As we write, the international situation is as dark as it has been at any time since 1919, and many have that calm, cold feeling that there is nothing to do but to tighten our belts and stand againt the onslaught. Even if that is still avoided, as all who listened to Lord Halifax trust it may be, there should be active protection of the library service which is one of those things which might so easily go under in a time of stress. The Library Association has done well in submitting to Government that experience in the last war proved the value of libraries for information and as a factor in the morale of the people; that their services should, so far as possible, be maintained even during hostilities; that there would be need of library provision for people, and especially for children, “evacuated” to areas where the existing library provision might often be inadequate; and that library buildings should not be used for purposes for which they are unsuitable, seeing that there will be many halls, schools and other buildings that would be better for food‐control, recruiting and so on.

“Ice cream is a foodstuff in my opinion and not a confection,” stated Mr. Morley T. Parry, Northamptonshire's Chief Sanitary Inspector, at a meeting of that county's branch of the Ice Cream Alliance at Northampton on April 24th. But this very fact made it most necessary that every care should be taken to safeguard public health. Addressing the meeting on the new Ice Cream (Heat Treatment, etc.) Regulations, Mr. Parry dealt mainly, as he said, with the “etc.” These were liable to be overlooked, and he considered them certainly of no less importance than the heat treatment process itself. In particular, the regulations required traders “to protect their ice cream, at all times during its storage and distribution, from dirt, dust, or other contamination, and all apparatus and utensils must be thoroughly cleaned after use and kept clean at all times.” It is my belief, said Mr. Parry, that these requirements, together with that concerning storage temperature, will sound the death‐knell of the old‐fashioned pushcart. “I am so confident of this,” he continued, “that it is my intention to take what will probably be a ‘ test case ’ in this connection at the first opportunity. But I must add that I have seen only two such vehicles on the streets in this Borough during the last two years.” Giving examples of bacteriological tests, Mr. Parry remarked that they showed the need of coverings to prevent ingress of dust and dirt, even in shop premises, and really explained the reason for the requirement that ice cream must be stored at 28°F. He felt that protection of the product during times of busy sales was going to present the trade with an immense problem. Speaking of sampling tests of Northamptonshire's ice cream, Mr. Parry had an encouraging word to say about the county's manufacturers and traders. “Since early 1946 we have never had a really bad bacteriological sample from any traders following the methods we have advised,” he said. “I would like to take this opportunity to compliment local traders on the efforts they have made to carry out suggestions my department has made to them, many of which must have seemed ‘finicking.’” He announced that a modified form of the Methylene Blue Reduction Test used for milk was now to be used for testing ice cream samples in place of the bacteriological examination which gave plate counts, B. Coli and Faecal Coli contents.

We have on many occasions drawn attention to the all too prevalent fallacy of judging the nutritive and dietetic value of foods solely by their chemical composition without regard to the digestibility of the foods, and to the more or less prevalent idiosyncrasies of the public in connection with such foods. In an excellent article in The Times, Sir Wyndham Dunstan observes that “it has to be remembered that, however desirable the constituents of a given material may seem, in order to be of real value that material must be digestible— capable of assimilation within the body. In this matter of digestion people differ greatly and there must be latitude in the choice of food. While consumption in quantity of uncooked green and other vegetables is widely advocated, many are unable easily to digest some vegetables unless cooked, and not always then except in very moderate amount. Many other factors have to be taken into account in planning a common dietary. There are different tastes and preferences. The appeal a particular food makes to the individual and the appetite it stimulates are important points. The psychological factor plays a significant part and must be met by providing as wide a selection of palatable food as possible. These are a few truisms often overlooked.” With regard to the kind of bread we should eat and ought to be made to eat in war‐time, the writer observes that “there is unanimity in regarding a wholemeal bread (not always the same thing as “brown” bread) as that which should be generally eaten and readily procured. This is not at present the rule. Should it be made so? The constituents of wholemeal bread supply not only nourishment for the body but protection against ill‐health. Some of the more valuable constituents are absent from the white bread, so long the staple of this country, because they have been removed in the conversion of the wheat into white flour, which is now often further whitened and further deteriorated by a chemical bleaching agent. White bread is therefore a sophisticated and inferior food to which we have grown so accustomed that its use has become an ingrained habit. The obvious course in the circumstances, especially in war‐time, would be to compel the use of wholemeal bread and prohibit white bread. But, though such a course would be for the good of the nation, a sudden change of the kind, however beneficial, is bound to be inconvenient, if not distasteful, to many who are attached to white bread, and particularly to those who do not, or cannot, understand the need for change. There are people who say they can digest white bread more easily than “brown.” Thus it happens that the Ministry of Food, advised by numerous experts and confronted with numerous objectors, is apparently in favour of the evasive alternative of restoring artificially to white bread one at least of the valuable constituents it has lost in manufacture without impairing its whiteness. At first it was intended to do this by adding to white flour suitable quantities of two chemically prepared substances, one a vitamin and the other a calcium compound. Recently the synthetic vitamin only has been indicated as the proposed addition. This seems a clumsy and unnecessary concession to sentiment, involving considerable expenditure. It has been widely critised and regarded as “faking” bread. An eminent physician, Sir Ernest Graham Little, while condemning the proposal on general grounds, also questions its efficacy. Why first remove a natural constituent of wheat in making flour and then afterwards, at a cost, add to the flour this constituent artificially manufactured: He presents a convincing case for the use of wholemeal bread. With regard to the argument that some people dislike wholemeal bread and find it less easy to digest, it may be doubted whether many of them have eaten true wholemeal. “Brown” breads, including bread made with coarse ground wheat or bran and also several varieties of “brown” bread sold under largely advertised names, are almost everywhere procurable at higher prices than white bread. Fine wholemeal bread as well as flour is less easy to find. Large numbers of people eat very little bread, and it is therefore of small importance to them whether it is wholemeal or white. They consume far less than the three‐quarters of a pound a day included in Sir William Bragg's basal diet and make up for it with other foods which they can afford to buy. A really nutritious bread chiefly concerns the poorer classes, who eat much more bread than those better off. For the poor the substitution of wholemeal bread for white is a matter of far‐reaching importance. It has been stated that in many places wholemeal is dearer than white, but inquiries in the trade suggest that this is not as it should be, apart from “fancy” brown breads. As has been pointed out, the Ministry of Food, confronted with alternatives, apparently favour the introduction of “faked” white bread rather than the adoption of wholemeal. There is, however, a medium course. In this country we have come to recognise the “inevitability of gradualness,” and the medium course would meet present needs and might lead to the voluntary adoption of all that is desired.— It has been found that the admixture with fine ground wholemeal flour of about 10 per cent. of white flour makes a light coloured, very palatable, and digestible bread of good texture. Its nutritive value is very little less than that of full wholemeal bread; in fact a rather larger proportion of white flour would be permissible. The mixed flour is quite satisfactory for rolls, scones and cakes.” If an admixture of the kind suggested would overcome the prejudice against wholemeal bread and render it palatable to those people who dislike the ordinary wholemeal bread, there would seem to be a very strong case for adopting such a suggestion rather than first to remove a natural constituent of wheat and subsequently, at a cost, artificially add to the flour the constituent which has been removed in the manufacture of the flour.

In America they do not tell Englishmen the story of George Washington and his exceptional devotion to the truth. The reason for that is, I think, because they are too busy telling us yarns illustrative of their conviction that we are entirely devoid of any sense of humour, the favourite, of course, being the one about “we eat what we can and can what we can't.” But even if we are dense and slow‐witted and have no Washington story, we are not without our Washingtons. Myself, I have discovered one and in the most unexpected of situations—in the milk trade, in fact, It was not with a little hatchet he said he had done it, of course; it was with his little bucket. And having prefaced his statements, as did the illustrious original, with the ringing declaration “I cannot tell a lie,” he explained just how the water found its way into the milk. It was because, taking his little bucket and filling it with water, he went round all the milk pails and he swilled them out and then added all the rinsings to the churn containing the milk, all ready for distribution. It was not that he wanted to adulterate the milk; it was that he wanted to make sure that no single drop of milk given by the cows was lost. Not for a moment did it occur to him that the rinsings consisted mainly of water and that the bulk of the milk would be diluted to such an extent that in the churn containing 7½ gallons about a gallon was water. How there could be so much, my lacteal Washington could not understand, as for rinsing purposes he was convinced he used no more than a pint. No one in court or in the witness box could tell him, or his judges either for that matter, and so it finished up with him being called upon to pay a fine of £10 with costs £2 18s. And all because he used his little bucket as he ought not to have used it. I forget what G. Washington's father did to him for demolishing the cherry tree with his little hatchet. The next time I am in America, interrupting somebody's funny story about the uselessness of expecting an Englishman to see anything funny in a funny story, I must ask about this.

Normal calcium metabolism may be considered under six main headings, each closely related to, and dependent on one another. These divisions are: (1) The skeleton; (2) The level of calcium in the blood; (3) The intake of calcium; (4) The output of calcium; (5) The factors which regulate the absorption of calcium from gut; (6) Certain endocrine glands which have a controlling influence on the output of calcium in the urine.

It is more interesting to speculate on the reasons given for the changes made on 1st June last in the sale and availability of vitamin supplements in the Welfare Foods Service than in the action taken. After the date given tokens for free supply of vitamin supplements are invalid and supplies will be sold at prices which cover their cost to the Government, only for the use of expectant and nursing mothers, children under five years and one month and handicapped children. No changes are being made in the arrangements for obtaining liquid milk at the special welfare price of fourpence a pint or National Dried Milk at two shillings and fourpence a tin.

In 1934 the Milk Marketing Board came into being, and with it the “Milk in Schools Scheme.” and all its promises to provide millions of school children with milk “approved” by County Medical Officers. Much effort has been made on school milk in this county. Often it is found that the milk “approved” does not reach the schools, but other milk does, which has not been covered by the arrangements made by the county council with the Ministry of Agriculture's veterinary staff. This is usually discovered when a school sample is found tuberculous, and arising from the subsequent enquiry. The steps taken as practised in this county are: (a) The proposed producer and supplier is visited, and his methods and cows inspected. (b) A sample of the “bulk” milk is procured for cleanliness and disease tests (the test for tubercle bacilli takes six weeks—this is unfortunate, but it is the best our laboratories can do). (c) The supply to the school is “approved” and the veterinary surgeon of the Ministry is requested to clinically inspect the herd quarterly—(no authority exists to tuberculin test cows without permission of the owners). Visits to schools are made frequently and samples of milk are tested from time to time. Those schools situated in convenient areas in the county receive “pasteurised” milk, which, incidentally, does not always satisfy the requirements of law, despite the cry often heard that pasteurisation is the cure for all unsatisfactory milk. The supplier has to be relied upon to deliver the “approved” milk—if he does not, the control instigated is somewhat lost, except the milk he is actually delivering is tested about once in three months. As there are some 250 schools taking milk this work is considerable. What control is operative in other counties I cannot say, but it is felt that the control of milk supplied to children leaves very much to be desired. As previously stated, steps ought to be taken to direct, wherever possible, “tuberculin tested” milk into the schools. At present this milk is largely wasted. Suppliers to schools, in the main, are not desirous of the business, and decline it whenever possible. County councils are also active through their agricultural and advisory departments. Very useful work had been done in this direction, but such activity is non‐statutory, and the Dairy Instructors may only visit farms when help is requested. The scope of this work has been enhanced by the inclusion in the war agricultural departments of a milk production section. Thus a further staff has been created, which possesses new sampling officers to sample milk, after it has been sold and received at the collecting depots throughout the country. This staff, which at the moment is declared to be for war time only, probably supersede numerically all the peace time milk administrators. The reasons for setting up the war time staff is to prevent losses of milk due to bad production, and to increase production. It is obvious that if the peace time arrangements could be consolidated, and a bold administration proceeded with, to compel the producers and others to comply with the law on the subject, there would be no need for a new body, which probably will remain after peace comes. What is needed, and this has been the case for many years, is a real drive for clean, disease‐free milk. The position as outlined in this lengthy statement is not due to the present emergency. The muddle has been in operation throughout all the past. What is required, in my opinion, is modification of the legislation whereby all the administrative control of milk, other than marketing (which the Milk Marketing Board can manage), is brought under the control of a central authority. If county councils are to continue in the post‐war period I am of the opinion that this body should be that central authority. One department, possessing the necessary classes of full‐time officers, including a section for educational and advisory work, could effectively and uniformly administer the law, which would result in the clean, safe milk which England craves for. I think it would be too much to hope for, whereby the Ministry of Agriculture's veterinary staffs might be included once more on the county council staff. On second thoughts, it may be well that they remain where they are, provided the staffs are adequate to cover at regular intervals all the herds, with powers to tuberculin test, as well as to clinically examine, when necessary. It has never yet been made a penal offence to dispose of cows which react to the tuberculin test, consequently a producer may, and does, pass tuberculous cows on through the open market to other producers. Surely the sale of such animals should be prevented as a first step to stop the spread of infection, and some means found of gradually eliminating them by destruction. An arrangement could be made whereby the county council staff may work in close co‐operation with the Ministry's veterinary surgeons, mainly by indicating where tuberculous infection exists as a result of milk sampling. The Animal Health Divisions of the Ministry are established throughout the country, each serving a small group of counties with veterinary staffs housed in each county. Such a new beginning would obviate the necessity of “putting the cart before the horse,” which is really the trend of things as seen in the establishment of the National Milk Testing Scheme. This scheme will show that large quantities of milk has a poor keeping quality, because of the lack of inadequate inforcement of the law. I say get the law administered in the first place. I cannot close without touching on the subject of marketing. For years milk producers have not been paid enough for their product. I used to think that better payment would almost solve the dirty milk problem, because this would enable the farmer to pay a wage which would attract the labour of more suitably educated persons who would thereby respond to modern methods. Milking cows properly is not the job for the village idiot: it is highly skilled work. However, judging by the small number of producers who have taken advantage of the Designated scheme, whereby they receive extra payment, doubts arise as to whether better prices would of necessity improve the nature of production. It must be remembered that the law has required milk producers to provide a clean milk, but, because for one reason and another this has not been done, the legislature, by the introduction of the Designated Orders, recognised clean and dirty milk, extra payment being arranged to induce the production of clean milk to those who had hitherto not carried out their legal obligations. All milk should be of one grade, conforming to a bacteriological standard of purity, and eventually all cows should pass periodically the tuberculin test. It is very necessary, however, to pay producers a fair price, and enforcement of the law would thereby become easier. You will never have a pure milk supply by the continuance of a policy of tinkering and patching. The whole set‐up needs altering, and vested interests prevented from barring the way to progress. There are other diseases besides tuberculosis which need dealing with in the interests of agriculture generally, but it seems that tuberculosis is the one which is the most capable of transmitting serious disease to man, with the exception of contagious abortion. The recently introduced plan whereby, for the payment of a premium by the dairy farmer, a periodic clinical inspection of his cattle is undertaken is good as far as it goes, but it is only tinkering about with the few herds which to date have adopted the scheme. Already official samples of milk from such herds have been noted to be tuberculous. In view of the large sum of money which is apparently available, but which in one way or another is being largely wasted, why not embark upon a bold scheme of disease eradication by compulsory methods, instead of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries scheme of “attestation,” which again is voluntary.

3. The Local Authority and every officer of a Local Authority authorised in writing by the Authority shall enforce and execute this Part of these Regulations, and for this purpose shall make such enquiries and take such other steps as may seem to them or him to be necessary for securing the due observance of this Part of the Regulations in the district of the local authority.