216 CONSUMPTION 



superior to those of meat ; they are available in convenient 

 quantities and are easily prepared for consumption ; and they 

 are invaluable in manufacture of baker's goods and in ordinary 

 household cooking wherever dishes are prepared from cereals 

 cereal products. 1 



With regard to the quantities of poultry products raised (except 

 where these enter into international trade), few countries attempt 

 accurate statistical records. Poultry and eggs are still produced 

 mainly as a by-product in ordinary farming operations, and great 

 quantities are consumed on the farms or are sold in a small, mis- 

 cellaneous way, without any records being kept. Yet the food 

 value of the world's annual output of poultry and eggs is consider- 

 able, and the importance of this source of animal food supplies 

 would become apparent if by any means the industry were suddenly 

 swept away. 2 It is significant that the figures of the per capita 

 consumption of meat for different countries show, in general, a 

 progressive decline in proportion to the extent of poultry-rearing, 

 though other factors also contribute to differences in these figures. 

 The series Argentina (about 300) ; Australia (about 250) : United 

 Kingdom (120) ; Russia (50) ; China (very small), showing a 

 descending rate of meat consumption in Ibs. per capita, is known 

 to be in ascending order of importance in poultry farming. 3 



In the absence of complete statistical information, it is difficult 

 to present the use of poultry produce in human diet in a precise 

 form, but some indication is afforded by the following facts. The 

 total value of the poultry products consumed in Great Britain in 

 1902 was approximately 17 million, as estimated by a witness 

 before a Royal Commission 4 ; and after that year both the quan- 

 tities and the values increased considerably till the year 1914. 5 

 A comparison between the output of poultry products and of 

 cheese in Canada brings out the striking importance of the former 

 The number of poultry in Canada in 1911 was about 32 millions, 

 and the number of eggs produced in 1910 was estimated at 123-3 

 million dozen. If the average maturing period of each head of 



1 It is common kitchen knowledge that without eggs the variety and the 

 palatability of the ordinary dietary suffers greatly. 



2 Although poultry and eggs form but a small proportion of the total food 

 supply of the United Kingdom (see Cd. 8421, App. ix., T.A.), even in this 

 country their food value was, pror to the war, nearly equivalent to that of 

 the fish supplies, and there is reason to believe that in a number of other 

 countries with greater rural population, these articles form a much higher 

 proportion of the total food supplies of animal origin. 



3 The United States, with a relatively high per capita meat consumption 

 and an extensive poultry industry, is exceptional, owing to the unusually 

 high standard of living there prevailing. 



* Royal Commission on Food Supplies in Time of War. Evidence of E. 

 Brown, F.L.S., of the National Poultry Organisation Society (Cd. 2645). 

 p. 295. 



5 See Report of the Census of Production (Cd. 6277) p. 16. The total con- 

 sumption of poultry, eggs, rabbits and game in the United Kingdom in 1911 

 titid an estimated value of '25 millions. 



