asked the Minister for Supplies if he will state with reference to millers' grist (a) the national blend as between Irish and imported wheat at present in operation; (b) whether there is any variation in the official requirements for grist as between mills situated near a port of discharge of foreign wheat and mills situated in other areas; (c) whether he can account for the fact that flour produced in the City of Dublin is superior in quality and colour to flour produced by mills with modern equipment situated internally in the country.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Flour Production.
There is no national blend as between native and imported wheat, as different grists are used for the production of bakers' and household flour. Under existing conditions, the grists for bakers' flour produced in the various mills contain as far as possible and for as long as possible an equal quantity of both native and imported wheat and the grists for household flour consist of 80 per cent. of native wheat and 20 per cent. of imported wheat. There is no distinction made in grists as between port and inland mills, but the grists vary slightly from time to time, according to location of stocks of wheat and to the limitation imposed by transport. I am advised that the implications in the last part of the question are without foundation.
Will the Minister consider ordering or requesting the millers to notify bakers of any change in their grist, because under the existing arrangement you may bake a batch of bread on Monday and produce satisfactory results, but if a new delivery of flour arrives on Tuesday and you bake it according to the same method the whole batch may be of grossly inferior quality; whereas, if you had notice of the change in the grist, the baking process could be adapted to the new conditions and the loss of valuable quantities of bread avoided?
I shall take a note of that point.