December 8, 1916] 



SCIENCE 



823 



called a few years ago, when there was a con- 

 siderable agitation for its adoption, " stand- 

 ard flour." 



The relative advantages and disadvantages 

 of the grinding of wheat so as to produce a 

 flour containing a larger proportion of germ 

 and bran than the ordinary white flour have 

 been somewhat fully discussed in our columns. 

 The prevalent method, in consequence of the 

 preference of the public for a very white flour 

 and very white bread, has been to grind the 

 wheat and separate the product into a succes- 

 sion of fractions, the principal fraction, white 

 flour, forming about 70 per cent, of the grain. 

 By arranging the milling in such a way that 

 80 per cent, instead of 70 is collected in one 

 fraction, the amount of protein in the flour is 

 substantially increased, and it has been claimed 

 that the product is increased in nutritive value 

 not only by the enhanced amount of protein, 

 but by the retention in it of a larger proportion 

 of the vitamines of the embryo. Mr. Runeiman 

 appears to have been impressed by this view of 

 the matter as well as by the advantage of get- 

 ting an additional yield. He stated in the 

 House of Commons that the government had 

 decided that 70 per cent, flour can not now be 

 permitted in this country. " Pure white flour," 

 he said, " from which has been abstracted, as 

 some people think, some of its most valuable 

 qualities, will not be milled in future. We 

 shall retain in the flour a good deal of what I 

 believe in some quarters is called offal and in 

 others precious food." He went on to state 

 that the percentage of wheat which should be 

 converted into flour varied with different kinds 

 of wheat, and that a scale of percentages would 

 be laid down which would, on an average, raise 

 the yield of flour about 8J per cent. The mill- 

 ing order which has since been published gives 

 the percentage of flour that must be extracted 

 from wheat as varying from 73 to 78 per cent, 

 according to the variety, the highest figure 

 being that for Australian wheat; the average 

 figure is 75 per cent., which is still well below 

 the 80 per cent, which was the percentage 

 adopted for giving " standard flour." Even the 

 additional 5 per cent., however, represents a 

 large increase in the amount of flour obtained 

 from every sack of wheat. The palatability 



of the resulting bread will continue to depend 

 chiefly on a judicious blending of flours and 

 on good baking. 



While there may still be some difference of 

 opinion as to the extent of the advantage se- 

 cured, there will probably be no difference of 

 opinion in the medical profession on the point 

 that it will, in the existing circumstances of 

 the food market, be considerable, even apart 

 from the fact that a given amount of wheat 

 will yield a much larger proportion of bread 

 than before. In this case, as in the case of 

 " summer time " and other innovations, it will 

 be interesting to see whether the general ex- 

 perience obtained will lead to the retention 

 after the end of the war of what has been 

 adopted as a temporary measure. — British Med- 

 ical Journal. 



The decision of the government, which ap- 

 pears likely to result in the general consump- 

 tion of " standard bread," will no doubt be re- 

 ceived with varied feelings by various sections 

 of the community. In view of the certainty 

 that such differences of opinion are likely to 

 arise, the following brief sketch of the facts 

 of the ease so far as they are known may be 

 of general interest. 



Under normal conditions at the present time 

 the average practise of roller milling results in 

 the recovery from cleaned wheat of rather more 

 than 70 per cent, of its weight of flour, the re- 

 maining 28 or 29 per cent, of the wheat, con- 

 sisting of various grades of " offals," being 

 sold for feeding stock. 



The changes announced last week would 

 make it compulsory to recover 80 per cent, of 

 flour from wheat, which would increase the 

 amount of flour by about 8J per cent, and de- 

 crease the amount of offals for stock-feeding by 

 a like proportion, the percentage in both cases 

 being calculated on the amount of cleaned 

 wheat available for milling. 



On the basis of the amount of flour produced 

 in the United Kingdom for home consumption 

 in the years immediately before the war, the 

 change announced would increase the amount 

 of flour available for bread-making by very 

 nearly 600,000 tons, which would provide an 

 extra 2-lb. loaf for every inhabitant of the 



