asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he is aware that owing to the inferior flour now being supplied by the Irish flour millers it is impossible to make satisfactory bread; if he will make representations to the millers on this serious feature of the people's main food, and, if necessary, recommend a lower percentage of extraction to make better bread and eliminate waste; if he will state what percentage of Manitoba (No. 1) hard wheat it will be possible to include in bakers' flour for each of the months from November, 1946, to March, 1947 (inclusive); and if he will instruct the flour millers that the percentage of such hard Manitoba wheat, in any and every particular delivery, shall be clearly stated on the millers' invoices, so that bakers may be able to properly regulate the temperature and water content of their doughs, and thus get the best results from the available grists.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Flour Extraction and Bread.
asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if, under present circumstances, it is physically impossible to improve the quality of the bread available for public consumption he will agree to the issue of a joint statement by his Department, in conjunction with the Irish millers and bakers, so that the blame for the poor quality of the bread can be properly apportioned and not thrown altogether on the shoulders of the bakers.
I propose to reply to both Questions No. 7 and No. 8 together. I am aware that there has been some deterioration in the quality of bread recently due to the lower quality of the grain from this year's harvest and the fact that owing to the exhaustion of reserves of grain, the product of this harvest had to be used without delay. Neither millers nor bakers can be held responsible for the quality of the flour and bread now available. I cannot, however, authorise a lower flour extraction until the position regarding supplies of imported wheat for the whole cereal year is clearer. It is impossible to say what percentage of Manitoba hard wheat will be included in the millers grists between now and March next as this will depend upon the quantities of such wheat which it will be possible to secure, which is not yet known.
I understand that it has been arranged that the millers' baker customers will be notified when any change is being made in the strength of bakers' flour.
Is the Minister aware that that request has been repeatedly made, that the millers give particulars of the grist employed in respect of each specific consignment of flour and has to date been steadfastly refused? Is the Minister in a position to say that he will require the millers to furnish that information hereafter? It was not being furnished up to the day before yesterday.
I understand that the millers came to a decision some considerable time ago that they would supply information to the bakers as to whether the proportion of hard wheat was being altered or not from time to time.
The important thing is that in respect of each wagon of flour the baker gets he should be told what the grist of that wagon is, because, although he might get a general instruction that they were going to increase the quantity of domestic wheat or Manitoba wheat, the difficulty is that when you get a particular consignment, unless you are notified in respect of that consignment, you may use the baking process appropriate to the previous consignment and you may lose a whole day's baking because you do not get complaints until the bread passes into consumption. If they would attach it to each consignment then bakers could take some measure of precaution in any case to ensure that the flour would be used to the best advantage.
The idea was that there would be no change without notification.
That is certainly not the case.
So that the baker could rely on uniformity until notified.
The Minister is aware that Great Britain has bought wheat outside the wheat pool and as a result of that they have practically a white loaf. Is it possible for this country to do that?
That is a question that has been disputed, I believe.
Is the Minister aware that, owing to the policy here and the kind of bread that is being used, there is any amount of bread going to waste as utterly unusable in the City of Dublin and, in addition, that there is damage to health and a certain amount of hunger because people are not able to get bread they can eat? Has the Minister received any representations from the millers, from the bakers or from the general public on that point, because complaints are voluminous?
I cannot say the Minister is aware of that.