British Food Journal Volume 38 Issue 10 1936 Available to Purchase

Sir Kingsley Wood, the Minister of Health, speaking at Plymouth on September 15th, said the problem of nutrition was one to which increased attention must be given in the light of modern scientific knowledge. In all our consideration of it we should not forget the necessity of pure, wholesome food. The consumption of food of all kinds in the United Kingdom had grown considerably. To‐day it was probably over 25 million tons a year. The consumption of dairy products and of eggs, fruit and vegetables, so important to good nutrition, had greatly increased. It was vital to our good health that our food supply should not only be unimpaired by the addition of harmful substances, but that there should be no abstraction from articles of food of their proper qualities. It was only fair that the public should get what they asked and paid for. There had undoubtedly been a considerable improvement in the food standards in this country. It had been achieved largely by the Health Authorities and their professional advisers, as well as producers and manufacturers themselves. Some 60 years ago some 15,000 samples only were submitted to Public Analysts, and over 19 per cent. were found to be adulterated or not up to standard. Last year over 143,000 samples were submitted—the highest on record—and the percentage adulterated or not up to standard was a little over 5 per cent. For a variety of reasons the true percentage of adulterated food was probably less than was indicated in this figure. It could be fairly said that nowadays there was very little gross adulteration or deliberate substitution of one article of food for another. But we still had to be vigilant to see to it that the public had some sort of guarantee that they were getting what they asked for, and that food did not contain ingredients which would render it injurious to health. The consumer's interest must always come first both from the point of view of fair trading and good health. There was also no doubt about the high nutritional value of milk, and we must do all we can to increase the consumption of clean and safe milk.