EPOCH IN BAKING.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 251, 20 September 1940, Page 6

EPOCH IN BAKING.

' ’ I WHEAT GERM PROCESS. i

TRIBUTES TO INSTITUTE, j

Per Press Association. CHRISTCHURCH, Sept. 1£). “I think that the inclusion by /the institute’s process of the wheat germ in bread marks an epoch in milling and baking,” said Mr R. J. Lyon, who presided at tlie quarterly meeting of the Wheat Research Institute. It was reported to the institute that there was an insistent demand for bread in which the germ was included and the millers were makiug supplies of the germ available as rapidly as possible. The evolution of this new type of bread represents a triumph for the institute, it was pointed out, for, the commercial process was developed there in its entirety. t Mr Lyon said that something of ; the same nature liad been arrived at in England and America almost at [the same time. From a report received there seemed to be some suspicion about the introduction of an artificial compound into bread in England, and probably the process there would be found to be not as good as the inclusion of the wheat germ, as was . being done in New Zealand. In America the process seemed to involve the drying of the hour, but there it had increased the price of Hour by from £2 to £3 a ton. It seemed, too, that the American process Would not produce as palatable a loaf as the New Zealand wheat germ loai. • Mr Lyon emphasised that the recent developments with wheat germ bread did not mean that millers had not known that it was an excellent thing to have the wheat germ in bread, but up to the present time no satisfactory process had been evolved. The bread was no mere move to satisfy the desires of food enthusiasts; the development had gone long post that stage. He thought that the institute was to be congratulated on having evolved the new process—one that was entirely new to the world. The director of the institute (Dr. F. W. Hilgendorf) said that some processes aimed at including the wheat germ in bread had been in use in New Zealand for some years, but had been protected by patents. The institute had now made a process available to all bakers and so to all consumers. He emphasised that the process did not damage the-Vitamin B content in bread. It was also stated that the 10 per cent, content of wheat germ recommended to the bakers was considered the right amount; 10 per cent, wheat germ bread contained as much Vitnmin B as wholemeal bread. No additional cost to the baker was involved in the purchase of the germ.