4 NEW HAMPSHIRE EXPERIMENT STATION [Bull. 261 



made* that the obstacles in collecting the waste, the confusion in distin- 

 guishing between kitchen refuse and table waste or between inedible and 

 edible waste, and the difficulties in determining the energy and the pro- 

 tein content are great. Waste in dietarj' studies has two entirely sep- 

 arate interests. If one wishes to know the true energy and the true pro- 

 tein intake of a group of individuals per day, obviously one must take 

 into consideration the waste. From the standpoint of physiology, knowl- 

 edge of the true food intake is essential in determining the dietaiy needs 

 of any one group, such as a group of workers. From the economic stand- 

 point likewise such knowledge is of value. Although the necessity of ac- 

 counting for waste may not seem so apparent at the present day, because 

 of the bumper crops and the over-production of certain foods, neverthe- 

 less the reduced incomes of a great many people today ai'e only partly 

 offset by the increased purchasing power of the wage, and perhaps at no 

 time in the history of the United States has waste food been of any 

 greater economic importance than now. The cost of waste food is es- 

 pecially to be emphasized in those institutions in which household eco- 

 nomics are taught, where students are brought daily into contact with 

 problems concerning the energj^ value of food ingredients and the rela- 

 tionship between prepared and rejected foods. 



PLAN OF RESEARCH 



In the earlier dietary studies elaborate calculations from standard 

 tables, complicated chemical analyses, or time-consuming combustions 

 with the bomb calorimeter were necessary to establish the energy con- 

 tent of purchased and prepared foods and of food waste. In the last 

 decade, however, it has been demonstrated that students of dietetics and 

 household economics can determine the caloric value of individual foods 

 and food mixtures accurately and with simplicity by the use of the oxy- 

 calorimeter developed at the Nutrition Laboratory." Advantage was, 

 therefore, taken in a cooperative research carried out by the Nutrition 

 Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution of Washington and the Univer- 

 sity of New Hampshire (some of the results of which have been already 

 published') to determine the energy content of the edible food wasted by 

 groups of college students. The college group was considered ideal for 

 the study, since so many observations in the field of dietetics have al- 

 ready been made with similar groups. If it is feasible to prepare for 



^Richards, E. H., and M. Talbot, Food as a factor in student life, Dept. 

 Social Sci., Univ. Cliicago, 1894, (cited by E. Hawley; see reference Ijelow); 

 Atwater, W. O., U. S. Dept. Agric, Office Expt. Sta., Bull.' 21, 1895, p. 162; 

 Gephart, F. C, Boston Med. and Surg. Journ., 1917, 176, p. 17; MacLeod, A. L., 

 and M. A. Griggs, Journ. Home Econoni., 1918. 10, p. 97; Murlin, J. R., and 

 F. M. Hildebrandt, Am. Journ. Physiol., 1919, 49, p. 531; Dickins. D., Missis- 

 sippi Agric. Expt. Sta., Bull. 245, 1927, and Bull. 254, 1928; Searle, G. N., 

 and R. M. Arnold, Journ. Home Econom., 1928, 20, p. 84; Hawley, E., A 

 study of the food consumed at St. Paul's School, privately printed by St. Paul's 

 School, Concord, New Hampshire, 1928. 



-Benedict. F. G., and E. L. Fox, Indus, and Eng. Chem., 1925, 17, p.912; 

 ibid., Journ. Biol. Chem., 1925, 66, p. 783; Benedict, F. G., Abderhalden's Handb. 

 d. biolog. Arbcitsmethodcn, 1929, Abt. IV, Tcil 13, p. 51. 



•'Benedict, F. G., and A. G. Farr, Univ. New Hampshire, Agric. Expt. Sta., 

 Bull. 242, 1929. 



