CHEMICAL BREAD.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXV, Issue 4701, 21 May 1924, Page 3

CHEMICAL BREAD.

THE PRESENT-DAY ARTICLE. (By An Economist in the Daily Mail.) Some time ago a director of one of the largest British flourmills complained to me that the sale of flour had fallen off very greatly. He told me that bread consumption had declined by about 40 per cent., and he attributed this to the .war and to the diminishing use of bread which was brought about by rationing. I told the miller that in my opinion his explanation was wrong. Everybody, rich and poor alike, complains about the bread. It may appeal to the eye by its dazzling whiteness, but it tastes different from the article to which people were used. It is no longer a pleasure to eat bread. So people restrict themselves. Most of the bread on sale at present is of very inferior quality, and is chemically treated with a view to improving its appearance. Wheat of very inferior quality ’s imported and ground into flour, and the bulk of this inferior flour -s bleached by means of chemicals and gases into startling whiteness. Thus it is given the appearance of highqualitflour which is naturally white. From the millers the flour goes to the bakers, who convert it into bread, and the majority of bakers add to it other chemicals euphemistically called “improvers,” by means of which they can convert a given quantity of flour into a larger number of loaves. In other words, the “improvement” brought about by the “improvers’ consists in this —that the public gets an artificially waterlogged and blownup loaf. . , Most doctors, most public health ofl'cers, and most analysts’ know that the bleaching of flour and the blowing up of bread by means 'A “improvers" are most objectionable. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to take proceedings under existing legislation, which aims at the clumsy adulteration of the past, which no longer is practised. The local authorities do not care to engage in very costly litigation.