INTERNATIONAL LABOUR OFFICE

STUDIES AND REPORTS
Series B (Economic Conditions) No. 35

FOOD CONTROL
IN

GREAT It IC ITA IX

PUBLISHED BY THE INTERNATIONAL LABOUR OFFICE,
3480 University Street, Montreal, Canada
Published in the United Kingdom for the INTERNATIONAL LABOUR OFFICE

by P. S. King & Staples, Ltd., London.
Distributed in the United States by the INTERNATIONAL LABOUR OFFICE,

Washington Branch, 734 Jackson Place, Washington, D.C.

r

PREFACE

This study is an attempt to analyse the problems of production, distribution and consumption of food in Great Britain during
the present war, and the measures which have been adopted to
solve those problems. It is concerned with the actual operation of
Government planning on a comprehensive scale which, starting
in a very limited way, has been extended until it affects closely
almost all processes from the growing of crops, the raising of
animals, and the importation of foods, at one end, to the actual
consumption of food at the other. The establishment of effective
controls has necessitated a vast number of administrative orders.
Since this study aims at analysis rather than mere description
or cataloguing, not all of these have been included. The more
important orders, however, are listed chronologically in Appendix
III under subject headings.
The International Labour Office was directed by the 1941 Conference of the International Labour Organisation to plan its work
for the purpose of fulfilling a resolution which declared that "the
close of the war must be followed by immediate action, previously
planned and arranged . . . for the raising of standards of living
throughout the world" and affirmed the "desirability of associating
the International Labour Organisation with the planning and application of measures of reconstruction".
Nutrition is one of the most important elements in any standard
of living program, and a nutrition program is concerned with the
production and distribution of food. The present report is an
analysis of the work of one Government in controlling food production and distribution. The circumstances are abnormal, to be
sure, but the results are not without their lessons for the future.
British food control in this war has, to a much greater extent than
in the war of 1914-1918, resulted in an accumulation of experiences
likely to be of considerable value after the war. Hence the final
section deals with the post-war significance of the results of wartime control. This is a study that can be useful in linking the experiences gained in one aspect of war organisation to one part of
post-war policy.

iv

PREPACE

It includes a considerable amount of detail that is of interest
only to those concerned with the administration of food policy,
and some concerning war developments that is only of transitory
interest, but it is above all an analysis of the problems arising in
a particular experiment in state control.
The study was prepared in Montreal and London by Edith
Tilton Denhardt of the Economic and Statistical Section of the
International Labour Office. The author wishes to acknowledge the
assistance of all those who read the manuscript and gave valuable
advice and who assisted in the preparation of it, especially to Dr.
E. F. Penrose, Economic Adviser to the International Labour
Office, for his rigorous criticism and helpful suggestions.
MARCH

1942.

CONTENTS

Page
PREFACE

CHAPTER I :

iii

Tiie Problem of Food Control
Dependence on Imports
Production of Food
The Demand for Food
Prices
Education of Consumers
Organisation of Food Administration

CHAPTER I I :

Agricultural

Policy

The Changing Character of Agriculture since 1914
Wartime Policy
Increase of Domestic Production
Plough Policy
Land Productivity and Farming Efficiency
Mechanisation and Labour Supply
'Land Tenure
Credit Facilities
Planning Agricultural Production
Adjustment of Relative Prices
Subsidies
Rationing of Feeding Stuffs
Miscellaneous Provisions
Results
CHAPTER I I I : Control of Supplies and of the Channels of Distribution. . . .
Co-operation with Traders
Use of Normal Trade Machinery
Importance of Trade Organisation
Allocation of Supplies
Standardisation of Trade Customs
Transport and Storage
Application of Control over Supplies and Distribution..
Cereals and Cereal Products
Meat and Meat Products
Milk and Milk Products
Oils and F a t s
Eggs
Fruit and Vegetables
Fish
Sugar
Miscellaneous
Distribution under "Emergency" Conditions

1
2
7
7
8
11
13
17
17
24
24
24
26
34
36
37
38
42
49
49
56
56
58
61
64
67
70
73
73
74
75
78
82
89
91
93
97
99
100
101

vi

FOOD CONTROI, IN GREAT BRITAIN
Page

CHAPTER IV: Rationing and Priority Distribution
Introduction
The Development of Rationing
Bacon
Butter, Margarine, and Cooking Fats
Sugar
Meat
Tea
Cheese
Preserves
Points Rationing
Differential Rationing
Priority Distribution—Milk
Milk in Schools
General Scheme of Supply
Other Priorities
Communal Feeding
Communal Kitchens and Feeding Centres
Regulation of Catering Establishments
School Canteens
Canteens for Industrial and Agricultural Workers. .
Emergency Feeding
CHAPTER V: Food Price Control Policy
Introduction
Food Subsidies
Course of Food Prices
Methods of Controlling Prices
Determination of Prices
Enforcement
CHAPTER VI : Conclusion

APPENDIX I :
APPENDIX I I :
APPENDIX I I I :
APPENDIX IV:
APPENDIX V:
APPENDIX V I :
APPENDIX VII :

INDEX

106
106 •
Ill
114
114
115
115
116
116
117
117
119
121
122
124
127
128
131
135
137
138
143
145
145
148
149
155
157
164
171

General Administrative Policy
Control of Supplies and Distribution
Control of Demand
Control of Prices
Nutrition and Education
Food Control and the War Economy
Post War Implications
Nutrition
Production and Distribution
Food Consumption in the United Kingdom
Foodstuffs for Human Consumption in the United Kingdom.
Chronology of Food Control

172
173
174
176
178
179
179
180
183
191
192
194

Development of Rationing
1. Retail Food Price Indices
2. Retail Prices of Food in the United Kingdom
Commodities Controlled by Maximum
Price Orders—
8 January 1942
Conclusions of the Report of the Committee appointed by the
Minister of Food to examine the Cost of Milk Distribution (Perry Report), H.M.S.O., 1940

241
253
256
258

261
262

CHAPTER I
THE PROBLEM OF FOOD CONTROL

The welfare of the workers in wartime is affected by the
organisation of food supply and distribution as much as by the
organisation of industrial production and military activity, and
the ability and desire of the people to stand the strain imposed
upon them in wartime depends to a great extent on the quantity
and kind of food available to them. The anarchic condition of
food distribution in the closing years of the last war was one of
the principal causes of growing industrial unrest, which finally
forced the British Government to establish a wide measure of food
control. 1 In peace-time the demand for food has been met by an
extensive and complicated system of production and trade, created
and run chiefly by the enterprise of individuals acting in their own
interests. The possibilities of profit largely directed the activities
of those engaged in the importation, production and distribution
of foodstuffs. As a result of the experience of the last war it was
realised even before the outbreak of the present war that in wartime this system based on private enterprise must give way to an
organised system of production and distribution controlled by the
Government. From the beginning of this war food controls have
therefore been an accepted part of the British Government's wartime administration, and it is the purpose of this study to analyse
the food production and distribution policy of that Government.
No sufficiently large-scale investigations have yet been made
to permit an analysis of the effects of the war upon the consumption of food by different groups of workers, although the Ministry
of Food has examined the diets of several groups of children and
is carrying out a survey of the diets of several thousand families.
Results so far show no measurable decrease in physical well-being
due to food shortages. The most important influence on the amount
of food consumed by many workers is their money income, and
1
"The Ministry of Food was instituted in the third year of the war as
a reluctant sacrifice on the altar of industrial unrest." Frank H. COLLER: A State
Trading Adventure (Oxford University Press, 1925), p. 1.

2

POOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

over this the Minister of Food has no control, although by means
of subsidisation and price control he can make these incomes worth
more in terms of food than they would have been in the absence of
controls. He can subsidise and control food prices and he can
distribute some foods free, but these measures only go part of the
way. His power is limited to seeing that there is food available
for everyone to buy and that its price is "reasonable"; he cannot
ensure that everyone is able to buy or will buy enough of the food
thus provided to obtain a nutritionally adequate diet.
DEPENDENCE ON IMPORTS

Before the war Great Britain depended on imports for a very
large proportion of its food supplies. The submarine and air campaign has reduced the shipping capacity available for imports and
the need for increased supplies of munitions and industrial raw
materials has reduced the proportion of this capacity available
for food imports. Furthermore nearly all nearby sources of supply
are in enemy hands. There must therefore be a reduction in the
total amount of food imported into Great Britain. Even in wartime "British farming like British economic life as a whole, has
evolved on lines which assume the continuance of large-scale imports of agricultural products" 1 , and food and agricultural policy
are determined by the capacity to import. 2
The increase of the population of England, Scotland and Wales
from 41 million in 1913 to 46 million in 1938, the increase of per
capita consumption of food3, the changes in the collection of foods
consumed and the consequent change in agricultural production
and the progressive cheapening of imports resulted in increasing
imports of food for both men and livestock in this period. The
total value of food, drink and tobacco imported for domestic consumption was £418 million in 19384, of which over £300 million
was accounted for by imports of grain and flour, feedstuffs, meat,
dairy products and fresh fruits and vegetables.
Wheat, wheat meal and flour accounted for 58 per cent, of the
imports of grain and flour, and maize, maize meal and other milled
1
Viscount ASTOR and B. Seebohm ROWNTREE : British Agriculture (London,
1938), p. 17.
1
See statement by the Minister of Food, in the House of Lords, 18 February
1941: "Not only the food policy of this country but the agricultural policy of
the country must be governed and is in fact governed by our importing capacity".
Parliamentary Debates, House of Lords, Vol. 118, col. 351.
* See Appendix I.
1
Imports of £430 million less exports of imported food, drink and tobacco
of £12 million. (Figures from the Annual Statement of the Trade of the United
Kingdom, 1939, Vol. II.)

3"

THE fROBLEM Oí FOOD CONTROL

TABLE 1. VALUB OP CERTAIN POOD IMPORTS INTO THE UNITED KINGDOM IN 1938
£ million

Total grain and
flour
Dairy products
Meat and animals (living) for food
Fresh fruits and vegetables

74
80
100
38

Source: Annual Statement of the Trade of the United Kingdom (H.M. Stationery Office, 1939).

products of maize for 27 per cent. The value of bacon was onethird of the total value of meat imports. Of the £80 million spent
for imported dairy products, £51 million went for butter, £12
million for eggs in the shell and £10 million for cheese.
The following table summarises the relative importance of
imports and home production of the most important groups of
food. These estimates are based on the results of a study made
by the Market Supply Committee for 1934 and 1935 and have
been revised in consultation with the Board of Trade and the
Ministry of Agriculture. 1 "The chief elements of uncertainty in
estimates of total food supplies are the allowances to be made for
milk used on the farm, for eggs, fruit and vegetables produced in
private gardens and on holdings of less than one acre, and for
home grown food consumed in the farmers' household." 2
TABLE 2. FOODSTUFFS FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION IN THE UNITED KINGDOM

{Average of the two years 1934 and 1935.)
Commodity

Per cent.
home produced

Total
(000 tons)

Per cent.
imported

4,427
3,062
953
910
253
37
888
203
430
2,432
4,629
2,425
1,958

87
51
12

13
49 l
88»
1001

38
11
92
69
39
77
3
25
73

621

Flour from wheat and other cereals
M e a t (including bacon)
Fish (excluding freshwater fish). .
Milk (million gallons)
Milk, condensed and dried
Cream
Fats (butter, lard and margarine).
Cheese
Eggs
Fruit
Potatoes
Other vegetables
Sugar
'.

89 l
81
31»
61'
23
97
75
27

1 Partly dependent on imported feeding-stuffs. * After allowing for herrings exported.
produced fish means British takings landed by British vessels.

Home

Source: MINISTRY OF HEALTH ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON NUTRITION; First Report (H.M.S.O.,
1937), p . 13.
1

See Appendix I I for the detailed figures.

1

M I N I S T R Y OF H E A L T H ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON NUTRITION :

(H.M.S.O., 1937), p. 13.

First Report

4

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

The invasion of the Scandinavian and Low Countries and the
capitulation of France created a sudden and unexpected dislocation in food supplies. An important proportion of Britain's food
imports came from enemy or enemy-occupied countries, and the
loss of these nearby sources of supply added to the already excessive
demand on shipping. In 1938 over one-half of the total imports
of eggs in the shell came from Denmark and the Netherlands.
Denmark alone sent half of the bacon and a quarter of the butter
imports. A large part of the milk products and fresh fruits and
vegetables came from European countries. Over half of the imports of lemons and limes was from Italy. A considerable part
of the imports of salad greens came from the Netherlands, France
and Italy, and broccoli and cauliflower from France and the Netherlands. Onions came primarily from the Netherlands, which also
supplied 306,000 out of the total imports of 353,000 cwts. of
carrots. The Channel and Canary Islands together supplied 2.5
million out of a total of 2.8 million cwts. of imported tomatoes in
1939.1 Over 75 per cent, of the imports of potassic fertilisers came
from Germany, Alsace and Belgium. Imports from these areas,
except the Canary Islands, are cut off by the war. The alternative
sources of supply are much farther away and the demands on
shipping space are correspondingly greater.
The greater demands upon British shipping resulting from
the loss of continental supplies could not at once be met. Shortages of many commodities—eggs, onions, bacon, cheese, fresh
fruits and vegetables and potash fertilisers—became acute. Much
of the confusion in agricultural policy in 1940 resulted chiefly
from the fact that it was necessary to make radical and rapid
changes to meet the new war conditions.
Before the war our agricultural policy was based on two assumptions, both
reasonable a t the time. One was t h a t France would remain our Ally and the
other was t h a t modern methods newly developed would keep the submarine
menace more or less within control. N o one could reasonably have been expected
to foresee the conditions in which we actually found ourselves last June. I t was
then clearly necessary to have a change of policy which would have a profound
effect on agriculture. 8

Radical changes are difficult to make in agriculture, and rapid
changes are almost impossible since most agricultural production
must be planned at least a year ahead and should be planned in
terms of cycles of production covering several years.
1
Figures from the Annual Statement of the Trade of the United Kingdom,
1939, Vol. I I .
2
Minister of Agriculture, in Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, 3
April 1941, Vol. 370, cols. 1217-18.

THE PROBLEM OF FOOD CONTROL

5

Shortly after the outbreak of war, controls over food imports
were established. Practically all the imports of human and animal
food are now purchased by the Ministry of Food. For some foods
bulk contracts are made with oversea Governments or producers
by the Ministry of Food. A large part of the imports of wheat,
sugar, meat, bacon, dairy products, tea and cocoa is purchased
in this manner. Other products—for example, oil seeds and nuts—
are bought by agents of the Ministry of Food in the markets of
the exporting countries. A small proportion of less important foods
is still imported by private firms under Government regulations.
Britain's food imports must make up the deficiency between
domestic production and consumption needs in almost every
category of domestic production and, in addition, provide certain
foods, such as tea and oranges, that are not produced at all in
the country. Emphasis was laid in the beginning upon acquiring
large supplies of cereals, oil seeds, meat, bacon, tea and sugar, and
later upon milk products and other "protective" foods. The Dominions send large quantities of meat, wheat, dairy products, eggs,
fruit juices and canned and dried vegetables. The Ministry of
Food has pointed out that although the "supplies of food likely
to come from the United States under the Lease-Lend Act will
constitute only some 5 per cent, or 6 per cent, of the United Kingdom's total consumption of food, home-grown and imported,
their value is considerably greater than would appear from these
figures. They include concentrated proteins such as cheese, canned
milk, dried milk, eggs, canned fish and canned meat. In the case
of some of these, e.g. canned milk, the supplies from the United
States represent a very considerable proportion of our total supply.
The supplies under the Lease-Lend Act are restoring the balance
in the British diet; making it more varied; improving both wellbeing and morale and so sustaining the war effort." 1
As we shall see in the course of this study, plans for emergency
feeding in Great Britain have suffered from the fact that stores
of non-perishable foods rich in proteins and vitamins were inadequate. Canned foods are virtually the only non-perishable source
of such foods, and British stocks of canned foods have been low.
Canned fruit and vegetables are, of course, extremely bulky products to store. The Ministry of Food, considering it more economical to limit the varieties of fruit imported, has encouraged the
importation of oranges because of their high vitamin C content
but not of other fresh fruits. To conserve shipping space the
Ministry of Food has requested that South American beef suppliers
bone 50 per cent, of butcher's beef and 100 per cent, of manu1

MINISTRY OF FOOD: Press Notice, No. 1287, 10 September 1941.

6

tfOOD CONTROL ÍN ORE A t BRÍTAÍÑ

factured beef before shipping it to the United Kingdom. 1 The
supplies from the Dominions are boned to the capacity of the
boning plants.
The prices paid by the Ministry of Food for imports are not
usually given. The Chancellor of the Exchequer on 9 April 1941
stated: " I can assure the Committee that the f.o.b. prices which
the Ministry of Food is paying for its imported foodstuffs are
generally very close to the pre-war level." 2 The c.i.f. prices are of
course considerably higher, since shipping and insurance costs
have risen. The total value of food, drink and tobacco imports
has fallen, as can be seen from the following table:
TABLE 3.

FOOD, DRINK AND TOBACCO IMPORTS
OP THE UNITED KINGDOM

( Values in millions of pounds)
1939

1

1940

i

i

Jan.

35.0

35.2

46.0

46.3

Feb.

30.2

33.9

37.9

41.0

Mar.

35.7

36.5

43.7

44.8

Apr.

30.3

33.3

42.1

46.2

May

33.6

33.9

39.8

40.1

June

36.1

37.2

35.5

36.7

July

32.9

34.3

30.2

31.4

Aug.

34.6

36.4

35.2

37.1

Sept.

23.0

23.2

29.2

29.5

Oct.

29.8

25.5

32.6

27.9

Nov.

38.6

34.4

26.7

23.8

Dec.

42.8

38.7

25.0

22.6

Normal seasonal change removed.
Source: London and Cambridge Economic Service, February 1941.

There was a marked decrease in the concluding months of 1940
associated with intensified submarine warfare. The higher values
during the first half of 1940 were in part due to higher prices and
in part to purchases of large stocks.
1
This has created some difficulties for Argentine shippers. The boned meat
packs closer than the unboned meat and thus weighs more per cubic metre. As
a result many ships designed to transport chilled and frozen unboned beef become
overloaded, while there still remains considerable unfilled space. See editorial
in The Times of Argentina, Buenos Aires, 31 March 1941.
2
Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, 9 Apr. 1941, Vol. 370, col. 1659.

THE PROBLEM OP FOOD CONTROL

7

PRODUCTION OF FOOD

The kinds of food produced at home in wartime are largely
determined by the kinds of food that were produced before the
war and by the limitations of soil and climate and productive
factors. Because of the limited supplies of labour, capital equipment, fertilisers and feeding stuffs available for agricultural production it is important that the collection of foodstuffs to be
produced should be determined by the nutritional value of each
food in itself and in relation to the total food supply as well as
by the cost in terms of labour, land, shipping space and capital
equipment required for production. The problem of the Minister
of Agriculture is twofold—to increase the total amount of food
produced and to influence the character of production in line with
the food policy enunciated by the Government. He must work
through a large number of farmers over whom control is extremely
difficult and who must be allowed considerable independence of
action. The broad outlines of the work of the Ministry of Agriculture are sketched in chapter II.
Costs of production as well as of imports have increased, and
consequently the wartime food supply is more expensive than the
peace-time supply. But the food problem is complicated not only
by the fact that the food supply is smaller and more expensive
but also by the fact that it is composed of a collection of commodities different from the pre-war collection, in which imported
foods played a major part, and which was influenced more by
demand than by nutritional needs. The total food supply in wartime is, therefore, determined partly by deliberate policy and
partly by conditions over which the Government has little control.
T H E DEMAND FOR FOOD

Similarly, the demand for food is determined partly by the
action taken by the food authorities and partly by circumstances
over which they have no control. The Ministry of Food should
know the nutritional needs of the people and should ensure that
these needs are adequately met. 1 However, the demand for food
is governed far more by income and taste than by nutritional
needs. Taste must not be ignored in the formulation of food policy,
since food is of doubtful value to anyone who will not eat it, but
people's tastes can be modified by education and are influenced
1
" I t ' s my business to arrange what food is brought into this country and
what food is grown in this country, in order to secure t h a t you'll eat those foods
t h a t are health-giving. I t isn't my business to provide for your tastes so much
as your necessities." Broadcast of the Minister of Food, 8 July 1940 in MINISTRY

OF F O O D : Bulletin,

No. 42.

'

8

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

by the foods available. 1 It is the effect of consumers' income on
the demand for food that creates the most difficult problems of
food control. The total purchasing power of consumers and the
distribution of this purchasing power are outside the control of
the Minister of Food but are the biggest factors in the demand
for food. By a comprehensive system of rationing, however, the
Minister of Food can control the total purchasing power for food.
By price control, rationing and subsidies, he can modify the effects
of the maldistribution of purchasing power. A really complete
system of food control involves tremendous administrative problems, especially in obtaining control over demand, but it is now
being approached in Great Britain.
PRICES

The reduced supply of food on the one hand, and the greater
money incomes of the population as the result of higher wage
rates and larger numbers of workers in industry on the other,
result in a greater demand for food than the shopkeepers can meet
unless food prices rise. Since the supplies of many commodities
are reduced, their prices are raised, in the absence of adequate
control, until they are so high that only a few people can afford
to buy them. Between the producer or importer and the final consumer lies a complicated distributive network, and attempts to
control food supplies will be ineffective unless control covers the
distribution of food. If in wartime the supply of food is reduced,
competition between food distributors can only result in a progressive increase of prices, since distributors are not only in competition with each other as sellers but also as buyers, and they will
bid up the prices of the goods they buy in an effort to obtain a
share of these goods. Price control therefore must be imposed not
only on retail prices but on prices all along the line and competition
must give way to co-operation under Government control.
Some rise in food prices is justifiable when costs of production,
importation and distribution increase, and in agriculture prices
1
See Sir John ORR and David LUBBOCK: Feeding the People in Wartime
(London, 1940), Chapter 5:
" I t is sometimes asserted t h a t food habits are so rigid t h a t it is almost impossible to get people to change their diet. Although it is true t h a t people tend
to continue to eat the kind of food to which they have been accustomed, their
dietary habits do change. This is proved by the remarkable change in the national dietary of Great Britain in recent years. As a matter of fact, food habits
are determined not so much by likes and dislikes as by the kind of food available.
The differences in the kind of diet in different classes in civilised countries are
not so much correlated with likes and dislikes as with purchasing power.
"The two factors which effect a change in diet are price and propaganda. Price
is the more effective among the poorer half of the population. Propaganda is more
effective among the wealthier half." (P. 36, author's italics.)

THB PROBLEM OF FOOD CONTROL

9

are frequently used as an incentive to producers—they are raised
above the level necessary to cover costs plus a reasonable profit in
order to encourage producers to expand output. On the other hand,
they may be lowered to discourage production. In manufacturing
it is more effective and less expensive to eliminate the "incentive"
function of prices and to set them at levels which cover costs including profit for the quantity of goods desired and to turn the
manufacturer's production into the desired channels by directly
controlling raw materials, transport, and the labour supply.
If the Government wishes to keep prices below the cost of production some form of subsidisation is obviously necessary. But
if food prices rise higher than is justified by the increased costs,
some groups in the community are making excessive profits, while
other groups are unable to purchase the necessaries of life. High
profits as an inducement to increase supply are not only ineffective
but are socially undesirable in wartime. It is clear, moreover,
that if high prices are set for what is wanted, and low prices for
what is not wanted, the reaction of the consumer will be in the
opposite direction to that which the Government desires, since
high prices discourage demand and low prices encourage demand.
This is an additional reason for avoiding the manipulation of prices
to regulate supply and relying as far as possible on "direct" controls—rationing of raw materials, etc.
Furthermore, it is not desirable that increased prices should
be widely used to discourage demand, especially for commodities
consumed by all income groups. For this purpose techniques of
rationing have been developed. If supplies are controlled rationing
is not always necessary to enforce maximum prices but it is necessary to prevent queues if supplies are very short. Yet no matter
how widespread rationing is, it will not ensure equitable distribution among all income groups unless prices are low enough to enable
everyone to buy his ration. Prices of goods, especially of rationed
goods, should therefore be related to the purchasing power of the
lowest income groups. If costs of production, importation or distribution rise, the remuneration to the producers must be raised to
cover them, but it is not always desirable that prices to the consumer should be raised in proportion to the increased costs. Prices
may therefore be set in accordance with the low-income consumer's
"ability to pay", while taxes are set in accordance with the higherincome taxpayer's "ability to pay". If a food is subsidised, however, it is important that it should be subsidised enough to bring
the price within the reach of the lower income groups. If the subsidy
is not sufficient to accomplish this purpose it is a waste of public
funds—better to double the subsidy if necessary or drop it entirely.

10

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

Demand for any commodity is not, however, a function only
of the price of that commodity and of the consumers' incomes;
it is also a function of the prices of other commodities. If a larger
proportion of the consumer's income must be spent for some other
commodity than food, the total demand for food will be decreased
and the prices of food will accordingly be affected. Similarly, if
more of a consumer's income must be spent for any particular
food, the demand for other foods will be decreased, unless the consumer's income increases, and with it the total amount spent for
food. Whether consumers will spend more or less of their incomes
on any food when its price rises depends on the elasticity of demand for that food, which is in turn affected by the prices of
substitute foods. Therefore the price of any food bears a close
relation to the prices of other foods so that a rise in price of one
food may lead to a greater demand for and a consequent rise
in the prices of other foods. In this way a general rise of food
prices can result from the shortage of only a few foods. One of
the chief duties of the food authorities in wartime is to protect
the interests of consumers and of those distributors whose competitive power is weak under the changed conditions, and to safeguard the economic organisation of the country in general by
preventing food prices from rising to unjustified heights.
The simple solution of making illegal and subject to drastic
penalties the selling of food at prices above those specified as
reasonable is no solution at all if the demand is much greater than
the supply. It results in a disorganised rush on the part of consumers
for the available supplies, in queues and in injustice to those who,
because of their occupation or other reasons, are unable to be
among the early arrivals in the market. The shopping population
is increased, adding to the problems of the retailer since it is sometimes necessary for purchasers to visit the shops two or three times
a day to obtain the supplies they want.
The imposition of price control without rationing or control of
distribution frequently results in the apparent disappearance of
the food concerned from the market. This occurs for three reasons
—the food may be bought up close to the source of supply and
therefore never reach the more distant markets; it may be bought
by catering establishments and other institutions whose selling
price is not controlled and who can therefore pay the maximum
retail price unless they are required to buy wholesale and subject
to wholesale price restrictions; or it may be bought by those consumers who reach the market first, and the food then disappears
early in the day. Furthermore, evasion of the legal price is extremely
profitable and difficult to control and innumerable ingenious

THE PROBLEM OF FOOD CONTROL

11

methods of evading the letter or spirit of the regulations are discovered by retailers and wholesalers. To meet their customers'
demands, retailers will sometimes pay high prices for some foods
which they sell at a loss, making up the loss by raising their margins
on other foods.
There are only two ways of meeting this problem: increasing
supply or decreasing demand. 1 If the first is not adequate, as it
frequently is not in wartime, the second must be resorted to. In
addition to general measures of controlling incomes, the Government can effectively control the demand for food only by rationing the consumer—by requiring that the consumer possess specific
authorisation to buy the rationed food. Rationing of some foods
is likely to "increase the scarcity of the non-rationed foods and
itself create the necessity of extending rationing to other foods
because those consumers who can afford to supplement their
rations with non-rationed substitutes will do so. If the ration of
any particular food is very small, this tendency on the part of
the well-to-do consumers will increase the demand for some nonrationed foods, increasing the shortage relative to demand, sending
up the price and making rationing of these foods necessary.
EDUCATION OF CONSUMERS

Not the least of the duties of the Ministry of Food is the education of the consumer. Not only is this important in order that
consumers shall make better use of food to meet their nutritional
requirements than they did in peace-time but also that they shall
know the general food policy of the country, what foods are most
abundant and how best to prepare available foods—especially
those that they perhaps had not used much in peace-time. In
addition, it is necessary to inform consumers what they must do
in order to obtain their share of the food supply, for example in
regard to rationing procedure.
Early in the war the "Kitchen Front" was created and the
Minister of Food launched a big campaign to "mobilise" women
on this "front". Newspapers, posters, booklets, broadcasts, films,
exhibitions, demonstrations, travelling vans, classes and lectures
are used as mediums for propaganda and education. Every morning
1
" D e m a n d " as used in this study means effective demand, which is defined
as demand backed by purchasing power. In wartime the power to purchase any
commodity a t a given price may be limited not only by the consumer's income
but also by the necessity of possessing a specific authorisation to purchase it.
Thus purchasing power and hence effective demand may be reduced by nonmonetary means—i.e., rationing.

12

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

after the 8 o'clock news, the B.B.C, devotes a few minutes to food
problems, recipes and advice. In August 1940, a weekly newspaper
advertisement of the Ministry of Food called Food Facts was
started, designed to instruct housewives about food policy and
food preparation. Approximately £570,000 was spent by the
Ministry on advertisements of various kinds from October 1939
to 31 August 1941.
Food Advice Centres have been established in various parts
of the country. Officers of the Public Relations Division are sent
out to the different centres to give advice and to collect information about the people's difficulties. These centres are not only
valuable education centres but also provide the Ministry of Food
with a direct means of obtaining suggestions from the consumer
and information about his difficulties.
Food selection and food preparation receive the most emphasis
in the Ministry's propaganda. Diet charts have been prepared
and housewives are instructed regarding the functions of different
classes of foods, the elements of a balanced diet, the special needs
of children and how these needs can be met with the foods available. The public Relations Division of the Ministry of Food also
checks recipes submitted by women's magazines and editors of the
women's pages in newspapers and periodicals to see that they do
not recommend the use of foods in short supply. The Board of
Education issues a series of pamphlets called Food Education
Memos, which give recipes and ways of preparing food to the
best advantage. The Ministry of Food's demonstrations, exhibitions and films are largely devoted to instruction regarding food
preparation. The nutritional importance of proper cooking has
never been adequately emphasised in Great Britain, and wartime
propaganda has heavy arrears to make up.
One of the most important functions of the Ministry of Food's
propaganda is the education of the consumer in the economics of
food control—especially regarding the difficulties that arise from
rationing and price control. Unless the consumer understands why
foods tend to become scarce when maximum prices are imposed
(apparently a most difficult thing to explain to the satisfaction of
consumers) and why all foods cannot be rationed, the Ministry
will have to meet a considerable body of hostile opinion among
consumers, whose co-operation it needs. Hostility to food control,
even though it arises from a misunderstanding, leads to attempts
to evade food regulations, while the belief that control is adequate,
equitable and properly administered will make administration
immeasurably easier.

THE PROBLEM OF FOOD CONTROL

13

T H E ORGANISATION OF FOOD ADMINISTRATION

The task of ensuring adequate supplies of food to the people
of the United Kingdom is in the hands of the Ministers of Food
and Agriculture. 1 The former controls food imports and food distribution and the latter is concerned with the production of food
within the United Kingdom. In theory, the Minister of Food
advises the Minister of Agriculture as to what foods should be
produced and the Minister of Agriculture is responsible for the
production of these foods up to the point at which the produce
leaves the farm; the Minister of Food is responsible for its distribution. In practice, however, co-operation between the two Ministries
is hampered by the fact that the Ministry of Agriculture is primarily
concerned with demands of the farmers, and the Ministry of Food
with the demands of distributors and consumers; and the interests
of the groups frequently conflict.
It is not necessary for the purposes of this study to describe in
detail the internal organisation of the Ministry of Food, but a
general picture of the functioning of this organisation will facilitate
an understanding of the working of the various food controls. In
December 1936 the Government established a Food (Defence
Plans) Department inside the Board of Trade to study the food
situation of the United Kingdom in the event of war. Shortly after
the outbreak of war a separate Ministry of Food was established
on the nucleus of this department and the reserves of essential
foods accumulated in 1938 and 1939 under the provisions of the
Essential Commodities Reserves Act of 1938 were transferred to
the Ministry of Food.
The administration of food control is characterised by a considerable degree of decentralisation. Divisional Food Officers are
appointed for large areas corresponding to the regions of the Special
Commissioners under the General Government Plan. Each Divisional Food Officer is responsible for the supervision of every branch
of the Ministry's activities in his Division. In emergencies the
Divisional Officer can assume full responsiblity for the food organisation in his Division. In addition there are area commodity
officers for each major food. The boundaries of the commodity
areas vary with the commodity concerned and overlap the divisional food areas. The co-ordination of the work of these two
groups of officers has been a difficult administrative problem in
Great Britain. There are also local Food Control Committees
appointed in the area of every local authority 2 , responsible for
1
The Secretary of State for Scotland is responsible for administering agricultural
policy in Scotland but works with the Ministry of Agriculture.
1
Two or more areas may combine to form a joint food control committee.

14

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

supervising the arrangements for retail distribution, the local administration of the rationing schemes, the licensing of retailers and
for generally safeguarding the interests of local consumers. They
are composed of fifteen members, of whom two must be women,
one a labour representative 1 , and five "trade members", one representing retail grocers, one retail butchers, one retail co-operative societies, and two representing other retail trades. Most of
the work of each committee is done by its Food Executive Officer
who is the active and responsible person in charge. Food Executive
Officers work with the Divisional Food Officers rather than with
the headquarters of the Ministry of Food in order to minimise
administrative delays.
An Inspector General of the Ministry's divisional organisation
has the duty of inspecting the work of all branches of the Ministry
in the country and of ascertaining how the different branches
maintain liaison with each other and with headquarters.
There are in addition to the administrative organisation numerous advisory committees to the Ministry. Special relations with
the workers are maintained through a Trades Union Congress
Committee of five persons, which advises the Minister and may
originate proposals. This Committee has made proposals on such
questions as extra rations for heavy workers, the sugar ration for
fruit preserving and price controls over specific commodities. In
June 1940 a Scientific Food Committee was appointed by the
Lord Privy Seal, as Chairman of the Cabinet Committee on Food
Policy, to "consider and advise upon problems of national food
requirements and of home food production with special regard
to the shipping and foreign exchange likely to be available for
imports of food and animal feeding stuffs and the labour and other
resources likely to be available for home production". This Committee has paid particular attention to the working out of a minimum diet required for maintaining health and energy under war
conditions. There is no general consumers' advisory council attached to the Ministry of Food to-day as there was in the last
war. The Consumers' Council of 1918 was a purely advisory body
but its advice was given serious consideration by the food control
authorities. The Ministry of Food to-day considers itself sufficiently able to look after the interests of consumers 2 , and in practice
the Public Relations Division of the Ministry is particularly con1
"The Trade Union Movement is represented . . . in each Local Food
Control Committee in areas where a Trades Council or other sufficiently representative local Trade Union organisation exists, and has informed us of a
desire for representation." Sir Walter CITRINE: The T.U.C, in Wartime, May
1941, p. 15.
1
See below, p. 83, note 3.

THB PROBLEM OP POOD CONTROL

15

cerned with consumers' complaints and keeps a close watch on
consumers' reactions to the controls.
The administration of agricultural policy is similarly decentralised. Under the Defence (General) Regulations, 1939, the Minister
of Agriculture is given wide powers of control over agriculture.
He can, for example, prevent agricultural land from being used for
purposes other than agriculture (except defence); he can regulate
the cultivation, management and use of agricultural land, and if
his orders are not followed or if the land is not cultivated according to the rules of good husbandry, he can, if the land is held by a
tenant, proceed to terminate the tenancy and, if necessary, he
may take possession of any land. On 1 September 1939, the Minister of Agriculture delegated much of his power to the County War
Agricultural Executive Committees 1 , and they can, on their own
initiative, exercise extensive authority over farmers. Before the
outbreak of war plans had been made for the creation of these
Committees, which met for the first time on 25 August 1939. The
members of the Committees serve voluntarily. They act as the
agents of the Minister of Agriculture in the local administration
of agricultural policy and are responsible for the execution of his
orders. 2 There is therefore a considerable degree of local autonomy
in agricultural administration. Instructions to the local committees
are usually in very general terms, and they are allowed considerable discretion in applying them to local conditions.
The Agricultural Executive Committees work through a large
number of District Committees, also composed of people rendering
voluntary services. About 4,000 persons are serving on these
various committees. The county and district committees are
assisted by staffs of experts drawn from the educational and advisory services of the Ministry, from the universities, from commercial firms and from the ranks of farmers and land agents. Liaison
between the local organisations and the Ministry is maintained
through the county land commissioners, through the labour advisory officers, and veterinary and livestock officers, and through
specially appointed personal liaison officers. These officers keep
the county committees informed of general policy and keep the
central Ministry in touch with the progress of production and the
problems that arise in the various counties, and they advise the
Ministry on general problems of agriculture.
1

Hereafter referred to as the Agricultural Executive Committees.
* "Their function is to organise food production in the light of the general
principles and orders issued from Whitehall; and as a counterpart it is their
duty to inform me through various channels of the difficulties which they encounter in carrying out their tasks." Statement of the Minister of Agriculture,
in Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, 19 November 1941, Vol. 376,
col. 421.

16

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

The Development of Food Control
The first food control order was the Acquisition of Food (Excessive Quantities) Order, made just before the outbreak of war,
which made it an offence for consumers to acquire more than one
week's supply of food. This remained the only restriction on consumer demand until the introduction of rationing on 8 January
1940. During 1940 one product after another came under some
form of control. Licensing of traders, prescribing of maximum
prices, rationing and controls over farm products were extended
but were for the most part confined to "essential" foods. The free
and cheap milk scheme—one of the most important social measures adopted in Great Britain during the war—was started in
July 1940. Comprehensive control over all classes of foods did
not make real headway until the beginning of 1941, but during
that year food control made great strides. In January 1941 the
prices of some 30 foods or classes of food previously uncontrolled
were restricted to the level prevailing on 2 December 1940, and
subsequently most of them, and a few more, were made subject
to prescribed maximum prices. The end of 1940 saw also the
beginning of the most rapid development of the communal feeding
campaign as a social rather than as an emergency measure. In
August 1941 orders preparing the way for the extension of an
almost universal system of licensing food traders at all stages of
distribution were issued. In 1941 also rationing was extended
to some of the "less essential foods"—preserves, dried fruits, cereals
and canned goods—and consumer registration and priorities were
instituted for milk and eggs. The year 1942 promises to be one in
which ' the controls over the mechanism of distribution will be
increasingly tightened and in which drastic reorganisation of the
channels of distribution will take place in order to economise
transport and release labour. A far-reaching reorganisation of
transport is the chief measure already announced to come into
effect and additional steps have been taken to suppress more
effectively illegal trading.
There still remains much to be done to improve food distribution but the foundations are laid and the outlines are clear. From
now on, food control will be extended to fill in gaps and add relatively minor extensions to the existing framework to bring distribution processes and food' prices more completely into line
with the needs of consumers and the general war effort.

CHAPTER II
AGRICULTURAL POLICY

T H E CHANGING CHARACTER OF AGRICULTURE SINCE 1914

British agriculture was in some respects in a less favourable
position to supply the food needs of the nation at the outbreak
of the present war than it was at the outbreak of war in 1914.
But the war of 1914-1918 had disclosed the vulnerability of Britain's
food supplies in a modern war and consequently Government
plans were more developed and Government controls more quickly
adopted in 1939 than they were in 1914. Offsetting this advantage
is the fact that the submarine has been a menace from the beginning of the present war, although the assistance of the United
States fleet came more quickly than it did in the last war.
Since 1890 the area under cultivation in Great Britain has been
declining as imported foods have become cheaper and industrial
employment has become more profitable for the British worker.
Between 1891 and 1913 about 45,000 acres per annum went out
of cultivation in Great Britain, of which about half went into
rough grazing. Since 1913 about 100,000 acres annually have
gone out of cultivation, of which a little over half has gone to
rough grazing. I t is not clear from the inadequate statistics available whether there has been a great increase in yield per acre over
the period, in spite of many new developments.
A smaller quantity of labour as well as a smaller quantity of
land is devoted to agricultural production to-day than before the
war of 19141, and, as can be seen from table 4,. the proportion of
the occupied population engaged in agriculture as well at the number of workers on holdings over one acre has declined. The
steady reduction in the agricultural labour force took place
in spite of the fact that wage rates almost doubled. The
average wage rate of ordinary male labourers in agriculture
rose from 18s. a week in 1914 to 34s. 7d. in 19382—an increase of
1

!

Viscount ASTOR and B. Scebohm ROWNTREE: op. cit., p. 43.

As computed by the Ministry of Agriculture; includes the value of certain
allowances in kind. Statistical Abstract of the United Kingdom, 1927 and 1940.

18

FOOD CONTRO!, IN GREAT BRITAIN

92 per cent. Heavier "labour costs have forced farmers to employ more mechanised equipment on their farms and to reduce production of those crops requiring much labour in relation to the
value of the crop—for example, animal feeding stuffs such as
peas, beans, turnips, swedes and mangolds.
TABLE 4.

PERSONS ENGAGED IN AGRICULTURE IN GREAT BRITAIN

Year

Total number aged
10 and upwards

Per cent, of occupied
population

1911
1921
1931

1,429,000
1,307,000
1,194,000

7.8
6.8
5.7

Males

Per cent, of total
occupied male
population

1911
1921
1931

1,301,000
1,198,000
1,120,000

Total number of
workers employed on
holdings of more
than one acre 1

996,081
829,073

Males

10.0
8.8
7.6

836,968
711,073

1
Includes casual labour.
Source: Statistical Abstract of the United Kingdom, 1940 and 1934.

Fewer young men were entering agriculture in this period and
consequently there was a larger proportion of older workers in
1938 than in 1911. The number of regular male workers under 21
years of age engaged on agricultural holdings of more than one
acre in Great Britain declined by 32.3 per cent, between 1925 and
1938, while the number 21 years of age and over declined by only
12.4 per cent. 1
The progressive cheapening of imports and the changing demand of the people of Great Britain as a consequence of increasing
industrialisation and the higher level of income accompanying it
have forced the British farmer to increase his production of milk,
eggs, vegetables and fruits at the expense of cereals, root crops
and cheaper meats. Market vegetable growing and dairy farming
have become of greater importance in British agriculture. The
dairy industry is, however, essentially a processing industry and
requires a large supply of raw material .in the form of feedstuffs.
Not only must livestock be supplied with food in both winter and
1
Calculated from data given in t h e Statistical Abstract of the United
1924 to 1938.

Kingdom,

AGRICULTURAL POLICY

19

summer but they must also be given a balanced diet. Home-grown
grass provides summer feed, but winter feeds—cereals, roots,
silage, oil cakes—are more expensive to produce. The bulky winter
feed is grown at home, but most of the oil cake, grains and cereals
necessary for winter feed and for a properly balanced diet are
imported.
TABLB 5.

ACREAGB UNDBR CULTIVATION BY CROPS IN GREAT BRITAIN

(Thousands)
Crop

Wheat
Other corn

1

Turnips and swedes.
Mangolds

1913

1919

1926

1932

1938

1,756

2,301

1,646

1,340

1,923

5,166

6,070

4,579

3,904

3,471

1,486

1,410

1,158

929

746

421

399

340

231

218

130

256

336
610

4

Sugar beet

591

630

641

653

3,970

3,662

3,987

3,922

3,361

245

234

242

248

253

Total arable

14,360

15,717

13,742

12,413

11,861

Permanent grass.

17,567

15,782

16,627

17,416

17,410

Total cultivated.

31,927

31,499

30,369

29,828

29,271

Potatoes
Rotation grasses. .. .
Orchards

Rough

grazing

(England

and

Wales)
1

5,615

Includes barley, oats, mixed corn, rye, and beans and peas for stock feeding.

Source: MINISTRY OP AGRICULTURB AND FISHERIES: Agricultural

Statistics.

Since 1871-5 the area under permanent grass has increased by
almost 35 per cent, in Great Britain, while arable acreage has
decreased by 40 per cent, in England and Wales and by 17 per
cent, in Scotland. Sir Daniel Hall writes that "the total loss,
human and cattle food together, may be estimated at something
in the order of 20 per cent". 1 An analysis of the acreage under
each of the field crops reveals that the only significant increases
occurred in the acreage under wheat and sugar beets. In both
cases increase was the result of Government assistance. The wheat
acreage began increasing in 1932 and 1933 as a result of the Wheat
1

Sir A. Daniel H A I L : Reconstruction and the Land (London, 1941), p. 92.

20

FOOD CONTROL, I N GREAT B R I T A I N

Act of 1931, which guaranteed prices to the wheat farmers. The
production of sugar beets was subsidised by the Government
beginning in 1924, and the acreage expanded from 22,000 acres
in 1924 to 56,000 in 1925 and 130,000 in 1926. As shown in table
5, it reached 336,000 in 1938.
On the other hand, acreage under certain vegetables has tended
to increase in recent years. Although these crops require considerable labour per unit of area, their value per acre is high and they
fit well into mixed farming.
TABLE 6. ACREAGB UNDER CERTAIN FRUITS AND VEGETABLES, ENGLAND
AND WALES
Crop

1913

1929

1933

1938

10,018

10,269

12.868

15,517

3,966

2,448

1,941

1,693

26,715

35,890

41,280

13,863

20,695

19,876

32,352

33,101

43,207

5,297

5,614

7,348

6,450

6,457

7,192

8,175

7,218

Cabbage (for human consump-

Source: Agricultural Statistics.

Acreage under all these crops has increased in the last ten
years with the exception of onions, which require a larger amount
of labour, are more subject to import competition, were not protected by import duties 1 and are not so perishable as most of the
others. Acreage under these crops fluctuates from year to year
since they are in many cases marginal crops in a mixed farming
system and sowing is sensitive to market anticipations.
Although the numbers of livestock have increased, the production of fodder crops other than hay and grass has declined
since costs of production have risen steadily, while the cost of
imported feeds has decreased. Fodder production has also been
affected by changes in the system of rotation so that the proportion of rotation grasses to the total crops has increased, while that
of roots and cereals has declined. Feed produced on grass lands
and imported feed have tended to become cheaper than feed produced on arable land in Great Britain, and consequently Great
1
Carrots and broccoli and cauliflowers were subject to specific import duties
before the war.

AGRICULTURAL POUCY

21

Britain grows only about half of the food other than fresh grass
consumed by the livestock of the country.
The total numbers of livestock in Great Britain have increased
since the last war, especially the dairy herds and poultry flocks.
The number of fowls is understated in table 7 as it omits fowls on
holdings of less than one acre.
TABLB 7.

NUMBBR OP LIVESTOCK IN GRBAT BRITAIN

(Thousands)
Kind

1913

1933

193S

3,166

3,439

3,576

4,269

4,024

4,475

4,454

23,931

23,661

25,901

25,882

2,509

3,236

3,822

52,283

73,835

64,053

Cows and heifers in milk or in
calf

2,695

Other cattle.
Sheep

2,234

Pigs
Poultry

1929

1

35,229

s

1
On holdings exceeding one acre. In addition there are substantial numbers on smaller holdings,
private gardens and backyards, estimated for England and Wales in 1930 to be about 27 per cent.
of those covered by the annual returns.
• 1908, from Sir A. Daniel HAU.: op. cit., p. 104.
Source: Agricultural Statistics, 1913 and 1938.

In spite of the decline in area shown in table 5 between 1908
and 1936, gross agricultural output, as estimated by the Ministry
of Agriculture, increased 22 per cent. The estimated value of gross
output in England and Wales for 1937-38 was £224,220,000, of
which nearly 70 per cent, was attributed to livestock products,
chiefly milk and dairy products. Since this figure represents the
gross value of output, the large quantities of imported feedstuffs
and store stock must be deducted to obtain the net value of British
agriculture, which is therefore considerably less—how much less
is uncertain. Agriculture has, furthermore, received substantial
subsidies from the State. Wheat and cattle payments alone amounted tö £4,610,000 in 1937-38 in England and Wales—£2,820,000 to
cattle and £1,790,000 to wheat. 1 Sir Daniel Hall points out that
subsidies, direct or indirect, amounted before the war to 20s. to
30s. per acre of cultivated land—an average grant of £100 a year
to all farmers "or, since small-holders receive little of the assistance, to upwards of £200 a year to all holdings above 50 acres". 2
He estimates that the annual output of British agriculture could
have been obtained in the world market at £60 million less cost
to consumers. 8
1

Agricultural Statistics, 1939, p. 63.
» Op. cit., p. 135.
« Ibid., p. 88.

22

FOOD CONTRO!, IN GREAT BRITAIN

Imported raw materials for agriculture attain added importance in wartime. Feeding stuffs are the most important as we have
seen—especially protein feedstuffs for winter feeding. I t is difficult
to estimate the amount imported before the war, since feedstuffs
are derived from various sources not appearing separately in the
statistics, for example offals from imported wheat and residues of
oilseeds imported for the manufacture of human food and for industrial purposes. The effect on British agriculture of a reduction
in the supplies of imported feedstuffs as a result of the war is
serious, as we shall see below, and the effort to increase domestic
production is a major part of wartime agricultural policy.
British agriculture also uses large amounts of imported fertilisers, and much of the domestically manufactured fertiliser is
produced from imported raw materials. The census of industrial
production for 1935, the last year for which details of home production of fertiliser are available, gave the following figures:
TABLE 8. PRODUCTION OP FERTILISERS, EXCLUDING LIME AND CHALK, IN
THE UNITED KINGDOM, 1935

{Thousand

tons)

Sulphate of ammonia

430

Other nitrogenous fertilisers

92

Basic slag

320

Superphosphate

447

Compound manures

509

Bone meal

28
Total

1,826

Source: AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS RBSBARCH INSTITUTS: Agricultural Register, 1938-39,

pp. 234-5.

I t was estimated by the Agricultural Economics Research
Institute at Oxford that the total available supplies of fertilisers
in 1938, excluding lime, were about two million tons, of which 33
per cent, was imported—around 678,000 tons. 1 All potassic fertilisers were imported, almost entirely from Germany and France.
Since the last war potash production has been developed in the
United States, the Soviet Union, Poland, Spain and Palestine.
Spain and Palestine still supply small amounts to Great Britain,
which accumulated considerable stocks before the war under
the Essential Commodities Reserves Act. 2 The United States pro1

Agricultural Register, 1938-39.
* Manchester Guardian, 19 M a y 1941.

AGRICULTURAL POLICY

23

auction is large and has been substantially increased so that it
can meet some of the needs of Great Britain. In a long war, however, there may be some difficulty in obtaining sufficient potash
to meet the needs of British agriculture. In the last war the same
difficulty arose, and it is stated that "the harvest of 1913 must
have been prejudiced by a deficiency of potash. I t was remarked
after harvest that some of the grain crops did not thresh out in
accordance with expectations. Experiences of this sort are of a
kind that might be expected to result from ill-balanced manuring." 1
Potash is particularly important for such crops as potatoes,
sugar beets, mangolds and market garden crops, especially peas
and beans. Since the war of 1914-1918 there has been a striking
increase in the amount of potassic fertilisers used in Great Britain.
As shown in table 9, the total quantity consumed has tripled
and the amount per acre has increased slightly over four times.
TABUS 9.

CONSUMPTION OF POTASSIC FERTILISERS IN GREAT BRITAIN
AND NORTHERN IRELAND

(in terms of K2O.)
1913

Tons of K 2 0 used
K2O per acre of arable land

23,400
2.7 lbs.

1927-8

41,860
5.8 lbs.

1938

75,000
11.6 lbs.

Source: Figures taken from an article by Sir E. J. Russau., Director of the Rothamsted
Experimental Station. "On Economising Potash'*, in Agriculture, Journal of the Ministry of
Agriculture, September 1940, p. 109.

One of the quantitatively most important fertilisers manufactured in Great Britain is superphosphate of lime. The raw material
for superphosphate is imported in the form of mineral phosphate
of lime, of which 410,454 tons were imported in 1938. Over half
of the imports of mineral phosphate of lime came from Tunis and
over one-fourth from Algeria and Egypt. The United States is a
large producer and "in 1941 shipped some 50,000 tons of triple
superphosphate under the Lend-Lease arrangement. In 1942 it
will probably triple this figure.
Phosphorus is also obtained in basic slag, a by-product of the
Bessemer steel and open hearth processes. It is a low grade fertiliser, but as can be seen from table 8 is produced in a considerable quantity. The most important nitrogenous fertiliser is sulphate
of ammonia, which is obtained as a by-product of the coke industry
or by combining sulphuric acid with ammonia (NH 3 ) obtained by
a process of nitrogen fixation from the air, and sufficient quantities
are domestically produced.
1

T. H. MIDDLETON: Food Production in War (Oxford, 1923), p. 229.

24

POOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN
WARTIME POLICY

The war has cut deeply into Britain's power to import food
and, since imports of feeding stuffs and fertilisers are needed for
domestic agricultural production, it has also diminished the capacity
to produce food. This does not mean, however, that the United
Kingdom is unable to increase the total quantity of food produced.
On the contrary, it can be increased greatly, for there was a large
amount of unused land available for agricultural production before
the war. Much of this can now be turned to producing food, but
there will inevitably be many changes in the kinds of food produced,
and the increased scarcity of both imported and domestic resources,
because of the transport problem and the demands of other industries on the nation's resources, make it important that a carefully planned agricultural policy should be devised to use the
resources that remain for agricultural production to the best
advantage.
British agricultural policy is concerned with obtaining increased
amounts of food from the land first by bringing grass and derelict
land into cultivation and second by increasing the productivity
of existing cultivated land. In addition, it is concerned with influencing the collection of human and animal foods produced on
the land and with the allocation of animal feedstuffs among the
different kinds of livestock. The two outstanding results of British
agricultural policy are the vast extension of land under the plough
and the livestock policy which emphasises the production of milk
and feeding stuffs. Although the plough is the most outstanding
factor in the Ministry's policy for increasing production, efforts
are made to increase labour supplies, extend mechanisation and
drainage, distribute fertilisers, eliminate pests of various sorts,
improve the treatment of diseases and extend information and
educational facilities. Credit is also advanced to the farmers,
although this aspect of policy is relatively unimportant.
The livestock policy dominates the planning of agricultural
output. The production of feedstuffs and "dual purpose" crops,
the emphasis put on increased milk production and the reduction
in the numbers of beef cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry are the
keynotes of agricultural policy.
Increase of Domestic Production
Plough Policy.
One of the most obvious ways of increasing domestic production of food is to put the plough to grassland, since in most cases
more food for men and animals can be produced per acre on arable

AGRICULTURAL POLICY

25

than on grassland. One of the sharpest controversies in Great
Britain during the last war raged around the "plough or not
plough" issue, and the relative advantages of grass and tillage
were hotly discussed. During the war some three million acres of
grassland were ploughed up in the United Kingdom. These three
million acres, and nearly two million more, had gone back to grass
or other uses by 1938. Even before the outbreak of war in 1939
the Minister of Agriculture called for an increase in the land under
plough. A subsidy of £2 per acre was granted by the Government
after the beginning of the war, for the ploughing up of seven-year
grassland and bringing it into cleanliness and fertility. A quota of
1,500,000 acres of grassland to be brought under the plough in
the 1939-40 season was set for England and Wales, and by 15
May 1940, 1,542,336 acres of grassland had already been ploughed 1
—over two million acres in the whole of the United Kingdom.
In this first year the selection of the land ploughed was determined by the local committees but each farmer had to plough
up part of his land. This led in some cases to the ploughing of land
that would have been better left unploughed. New land should not
be brought under the plough if a greater total production can be
obtained by using the available supplies of labour, machinery and
fertiliser to increase the productivity of existing arable land than
by using part of them on existing arable and part on newly
ploughed land. Since, for this reason, it is impracticable to plough
up all available land in the United Kingdom, it is obviously of
great importance that the land actually ploughed should be carefully selected.
A detailed farm survey was made to furnish the basis for the
selective plough policy and to facilitate the planning of agricultural
production generally. On the basis of the farm survey results each
county committee was asked to make an estimate of the land
available for ploughing in the county. These estimates were studied
by the Ministry of Agriculture and each county was given a minimum quota of acreage to be ploughed.
The Minister of Agriculture stated in the House of Commons
on 3 April 1941 that an additional 3,750,000 acres would be under
crops during the spring, raising the percentage of the cultivated
area under crops, which stood at 29 per cent, in September 1939,
to 42 per cent., and in November he was able to state that "the
total area under crops, as a result of the new ploughing up, was
45 per cent, above the peace-time figure".2 There are at present
1
Each farmer was expected to plough an area roughly equal to 10 per cent.
of his unploughed land.
* Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, 19 November 1941, Vol. 376,
col. 415.

26

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

about 16,000,000 acres in cultivation. At the same time the Minister stated that the plough-up programme was substantially completed. He called for additional acreage in 1942 to bring the area
under the plough to 50 per cent, above the peace-time figure, and
he added: "After this year I do not think that we can contemplate
any substantial increase of our arable land, having regard to the
existing supplies of labour, machinery and fertilisers". 1
Besides promoting the large-scale ploughing up of land, the
Ministry of Agriculture has taken measures to encourage the
growing of food by the non-agricultural population on small plots
of land called allotments. Allotments and kitchen gardens are
important sources of fresh vegetables and use much land that
would otherwise be lost to food production. In September 1939
the Minister asked for half a million new allotments and in September 1940 he asked for an additional three million. A grant of
£2 an acre is made to enable the local authorities to use for allotments land acquired by them for other purposes. The Agricultural
Executive Committees have also the power to take over and cultivate derelict land. In the larger towns horticultural advisory
committees are established by local authorities to assist allotment
holders. Instruction is given in the growing of vegetables and in
many towns professional gardeners are available for advice on the
problems of the allotment holders. The various gardens and allotments committees have developed programmes for organising allotment production in the whole country. They assist in the acquisition of land for allotments, help the allotment holder to acquire
and use seeds and fertiliser, spread information and encourage
advisory services. Although after the last war the number of allotment holders in England and Wales reached 1,300,000, it had
dropped heavily by the beginning of this war. From the outbreak
of war to 15 April 1941 the estimated number of allotments had
risen by 541,000 and at the present time has reached 1,500,000.
Land Productivity and Farming Efficiency.
The ploughing campaign is only one aspect of the general campaign to increase domestic production. It is equally important that
the quality of the remaining grassland should be improved, the
productivity of existing arable land increased and the standard of
farming efficiency raised. The first two of these depend to a large
extent on the success of measures taken to improve the fertility
of the soil. Most of these measures are now well under way although
they were late in getting started. Farmers are encouraged to drain
1

Ibid, col. 418.

AGRICULTURAL POLICY

27

their land and restore or improve existing drainage - systems. Over
£2,500,000 has already been spent since the beginning of the war
on drainage schemes which have benefited nearly 2,000,000 acres
of land. 1 Grants are made for the improvement of minor arterial
watercourses 2 for field drainage, for the improvement of upland
farms by connecting these with water supplies, and for other
minor drainage works. Government advances covering the whole
cost of some drainage works are made to the local drainage authorities, 50 per cent, of which is regarded as an outright grant and
the remainder recoverable over a period of five years from the district drainage board. -The Government can recover its expenses
in carrying out drainage work from the landowners or from the
drainage boards, but it does not propose to attempt to recover
more than 50 per cent, of the cost from the owners.8 In the autumn
of 1940 it was decided that the Ministry of Agriculture should itself buy excavating and ditching machinery for the Agricultural
Executive Committees to hire to farmers, and by 7 October 1941
some £250,000 of new drainage machinery was already in use
with more on order.
In Scottish hill pastures much land is lost to grazing because
of bracken, and damage is done to crops and herds by the pests
it harbours. Fifty per cent, of the cost of the elimination of bracken
is paid by the Government in order to encourage farmers to free
their land of this nuisance, and 150 bracken-cutting machines have
been ordered by the Scottish authorities, of which 50 had been
delivered by July 1941. 4
Maximum production will not be obtained on any land unless
it is adequately fertilised. It is a waste of labour and materials to
plough and seed land so deficient in the chemical elements necessary
for plant growth that the crop fails to develop properly. Fertiliser
consumption has increased since the last war largely because of
scientific developments in soil analysis and the improved distribution of the results of scientific experiments to farmers. Also
"decreasing quantities of town stable manure have compelled
market gardeners to use more fertilisers of all kinds and particularly
potash". 6 Animal manure is an important source of potash, and
the decrease of livestock accompanying a shortage of feedstuffs will
increase the need for potash fertilisers, which are in shortest
supply.
1
See debate on the Agriculture (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill, Parliamentary
Debates, House of Commons, 9 October 1941, Vol. 374, col. 1152.
a
Schemes costing more than £1,000,000 for the improvement of minor watercourses have been approved since the outbreak of war. Ibid.
» Ibid., col. 1154.
4
Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, 30 July 1941, Vol. 373, col. 1498.
6

Sir E. J. R U S S E U . , loc. cit.,

p.

111.

28

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

Even before the war the Government offered free soil analysis
and other scientific advice to the farmers in order to encourage
them to use fertilisers in their effort to increase production. Under
the Land Fertility Scheme of 1937 subsidies for lime and basic
slag were granted which reduced the cost of lime to the farmer
by 50 per cent, and that of slag by 25 per cent. The subsidy on
lime has been extended to 31 July 1944. l Supplies of lime this
year are expected to be 75 per cent, greater than they were in
1940-41 as a result of the erection of new plant either privately
or State financed. State assistance is concentrated on plants in
areas where the need of lime is greatest as a result of the ploughing up campaign and where existing firms do not possess sufficient
resources to expand.
The subsidy on basic slag was removed in the fall of 1941.
Basic slag and superphosphates are distributed in the areas nearest
the point of production in order to save transport. Hence farmers
are not able to order the type of phosphate they prefer but must
take that produced nearest their farms. Reserves of phosphates are
held by the County Agricultural Committees and loans to finance
the acquisition of fertilisers can be made to farmers under the
Agricultural Requisites Assistance Scheme.2 The Government has
stabilised the prices of fertilisers and has set a uniform price of
basic slag for the whole country with the assistance of an Exchequer grant.
The scarcity of potash has made necessary a reduction in consumer's supplies but has not yet led to rationing, although priorities, are established in distribution. In August 1940 the total
stocks of potash in the United Kingdom were about 80,000 tons—
about one-half of normal supplies and less than one-third of the
requirements of the expanded agricultural programme.
Each
manufacturer was given about half of his 1938-39 supplies. However, in July 1941, the Minister of Agriculture stated that unless
very bad luck overtook the phosphate shipments supplies should
be available considerably in excess of the pre-war supplies. 8 Potassic fertilisers may be used only for potatoes, carrots, onions,
sugar beet and flax, and only if the farmer can show a serious potash
deficiency in the soil and possesses a certificate from his Agricultural Executive Committee.
Fertiliser compounds containing
potash are required to contain at least 5 per cent, potash, in order
to prevent a deterioration of the quality of the compounds as a
1
This subsidy is expected to cost a t least £1,500,000 in 1941 and more in
the following years. See Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, 9 October
1941, Vol. 374, loc. cit., col. 1150.
s
See below, p. 37.
' Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, 24 July 1941, Vol. 373, col. 1092.

AGRICULTURAL POUCY

29

result of maximum price regulations and because a smaller percentage of potash is relatively ineffective and supplies must be
used to best advantage. The supply of nitrogenous fertilisers is
large, and the Minister of Agriculture has urged the farmers to
make more use of these fertilisers.1 In order to encourage even
deliveries and prevent a spring glut, a rebate of 28s. a ton was
given by the Government for orders placed in July 1941.
In addition to assistance in securing drainage and fertilisers,
the Government's widespread organisation is concerned with
making the results of technical agricultural research available to
all farmers and with improving the standard of farming by increasing the knowledge of the farmer.
During the last two hundred years the increased productivity
of land and livestock has been largely the result of scientific research. Such research is still of great importance in improving
agricultural production. The functions of the Agricultural Research
Council, a Government body concerned with research into the
fundamental problems of agriculture, have been extended and its
funds increased. Investigations of the effects of wireworm infestation on crop yields have recently been made by the advisory entomologists in co-operation with the Statistical Department of the
Rothamsted Experimental Station and the Plant Pathological
Laboratory of the Ministry of Agriculture. These investigations
were concerned with crops grown on newly broken grassland and
the wireworm population of many fields was analysed. Up to the
end of 1940 details of cropping had been collected for 287 of these
fields, covering an area of 4,310 acres. The purpose of the investigations is to enable the Ministry to advise farmers what
crops to grow or not to grow on fields with given wireworm populations.
Equally important, however, is the spreading of information
among the men who work the soil.2 The Agricultural Executive
Committees all have scientific advisers— men who are responsible
for seeing that modern knowledge is available to every farmer.
1
" . . . in view of the importance and value of these fertilisers for securing
an increased yield from grass and many farm crops, I am very disappointed at
the meagre response t h a t farmers have made to repeated appeals to take up all
the supplies t h a t are available. I have sent out a circular asking committees to
make this still further known to farmers." Mr. R. S. HUDSON, Minister of Agriculture, in Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, 3 April 1941, Vol. 370,
col. 1215.
2
"We have indeed been impressed by the statements of certain witnesses
that what is required in order to improve the standard of British farming is not
so much further research work and the development of new scientific methods,
as the translation into practice of certain simple lessons already clearly taught
by scientific study and by the experience of progressive farmers." Sixth Report
from the Select Committee on National Expenditure, 1940-41 Session (H.M.S.O.,
1941), p. 23.

30

FOOD CONTROL IN GRßAT BRITAIN

Soil analyses are given by Government-employed scientists, and
aid in combating pests and in dealing with the diseases of plants
and livestock is offered. Special efforts are made to control diseases
of livestock, especially those affecting dairy cattle. About 11,000
milch cows and heifers have been slaughtered since the outbreak
of war as a result of foot and mouth disease, for which £650,000
has been paid in compensation to farmers. The carcases of about
6,500 of these animals have been salvaged for human consumption,
but some 2,175 tons of meat have been lost. It is not possible to
estimate the loss of milk.1
A scheme has been worked out by the National Veterinary
Medical Association whereby farmers, upon payment of a flat
annual fee, may have their stock examined quarterly and given
any necessary treatment, since much of the damage done by
diseases is a result of delayed detection. Such a scheme should
reduce the seriousness of disease when contracted and improve
the care given to animals.
The scheme is being favourably considered by the Ministry
of Agriculture, but the Ministry has not taken the responsibility
for actually pushing it. According to the Farmers Weekly2, only a
few small details now remain to be settled . . . While the Ministry is not
actually supervising the plan or taking responsibility, it is making available
certain facilities—such as laboratories free of charge—to veterinary surgeons
having contract work for farmers. They will also supply vaccine free of charge
and provide a new drug for use in treatment of mastitis at greatly reduced cost.
The Ministry has also agreed that veterinary surgeons engaged on panel
work for farmers shall be placed on their Panel "A". This means that they will
also be employed as part-time inspectors for inspection of dairy herds for mastitis and abortion.
At the outset the scheme will apply only to dairy herds. Later it is hoped to
extend it to sheep and pigs.

The Government has also agreed to provide funds for the
training of veterinary surgeons in problems of bovine infertility.
At the annual meeting of the National Veterinary Medical Association, the President said:
I suggest that this aspect of preventive medicine is the joint concern of the
State and of the stockholder. We appeal to the Ministry of Agriculture to evolve
a more comprehensive and farsighted policy, and while we are aware of some
of the difficulties with which it is beset, we confidently look for more evidence
of that body's acceptance of its responsibilities with regard to animal health
and the control of animal disease.'
1
Information given by the Minister of Agriculture, Parliamentary Debates,
House
of Commons, 16 October 1941, Vol. 374, col. 1514.
1
8 August 1941, p. 23.
• As reported in the Farmers Weekly, 19 September 1941, p. 22.

AGRICULTURAL POUCY

31

Agricultural Improvement Councils have been appointed both
in England and Wales and in Scotland with the following terms
of reference: "to devise methods for seeing that promising
results of research are applied as rapidly as possible to the
problems of agriculture and are incorporated in ordinary farming practice; and to advise from time to time concerning agricultural problems which appear to require scientific investigation". 1
These councils are designed to meet one of the criticisms made
by the Select Committee on National Expenditure in its Sixth
Report, which suggested that a closer connection was needed
between scientific research and practical farming 2 , and to deal
with what the Minister of Agriculture considers the major problem
—"to adapt each of the different varieties of farming systems to
national war needs in the light of modern scientific knowledge
and the use of modern agricultural implements". 8
Information about the proper use of fertilisers, the best diet
for livestock and other problems of the farmer is freely available
from Government agencies. The Ministry of Agriculture publishes
two series of information and advisory leaflets: a "Grow-more"
series for farmers and a "Dig for Victory" series for allotment
holders and gardeners. In addition films are distributed to both
general and specialised audiences for propaganda purposes and to
illustrate proper techniques for persons unacquainted with the new
duties they are asked to undertake.
The Government co-operates with farmers to reduce the ravages of pests of various sorts. In addition to the measures taken
against bracken and the wireworm mentioned above, the Agricultural Executive Committees assist in the destruction of rats
and rabbits. The latter animal has caused a great deal of controversy. The Minister of Food controls the prices of rabbits
but agriculturists prefer an uncontrolled price to encourage the
elimination of rabbits, although even within the agricultural
groups there is a difference of opinion since many farmers feel
that high prices encourage trappers to abstain from killing all
the does so that the following year's supply will not be too greatly
reduced. The price allowed for rabbits appears to be sufficiently
1

Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, 12 June 1941, Vol. 372, col. 336.
"It would seem desirable to secure closer co-ordination for ensuring that
research is directed to meeting the needs cf agricultural policy and practical
farming and, on the other hand, that the results of research are made known and
applied to the improvement of farming efficiency." Op. cit., p. 17.
* Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, 19 November 1941, loc. cit., Vol.
376, col. 424.
1

32

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

remunerative 1 but the controversy rages unabated. Farmers are
well aware of the damage done to their crops by rabbits and it is
doubtful whether large price incentive is needed to persuade
farmers to kill them.
These efforts of the Government to improve farming efficiency
will be of little use to incapable farmers. One of the chief features
of the Farm Survey made by the Ministry of Agriculture was a
classification of farms into three groups: (A) well farmed; (B)
moderately farmed; and (C) badly farmed. The Agricultural
Executive Committees are endeavouring to eliminate (C) and improve (B). The effectiveness of the work of these committees
depends greatly upon the quality of their personnel, and there are
wide differences in the competence of the committees in the different areas.
Best results will be obtained in the execution of any programme
if the Government can obtain the voluntary co-operation of all
groups concerned, although sometimes the cost is high. The
planning of agricultural production is extraordinarily complicated.
Not only must the quality of the land, the availability of labour,
machinery and fertilisers and the rotation cycle practised on each
farm be considered, but also the willingness of the farmer to produce any particular crop. Co-operation from the farmers must
be obtained if the food production programme is to be successful.
The power to compel producers to act in the national interest
must, however, be given the agricultural authorities even though
it is not frequently exercised. The Agricultural Executive Committees have the right of entry on all farms and the power to remove
inefficient farmers. They can compel the farmer to follow their
directions, and they have the power, with the consent of the
Minister of Agriculture, to take over badly farmed land 2 , of which
1
Rabbits have more than a food use, however. T h e F u r Trade Export
Group recently announced a plan for trapping millions of live rabbits and breeding tame ones to increase supplies of both food and pelts.
The value of our exports last year of raw rabbit skins and in the form
of hatters' furs was approximately £930,000. Exports for the first six months
of this year amounted to over £920,000, and seemed likely to be over
£2,000,000 by the end of the year.
The rabbit catch in this country last year was about 60,000,000, a figure
it was hoped to surpass this year.
Mr. James Bradley, chairman of the Rabbits and Moles Committee,
announced t h a t pamphlets on the best way to trap and skin rabbits and
moles would be sent by the group to women's institutes, rabbit clubs, and
similar bodies who applied for them. The demand of the American markets
for the skins was much greater than the supply, and this offered a chance
to exploit two products of our land. The Times, 1 November 1941.
2
The Minister of Agriculture stated on 24 July 1941 that the Committees
had taken possession of 150,000 acres of uncultivated or badly cultivated land
in England and Wales. Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, 24 July 1941,
Vol. 373, col. 1092.

AGRICULTURAL POLICY

33

the State can acquire ownership. 1 Directions are frequently issued
to the farmer regarding the harvesting and disposal of his crops
and he is required to take proper care of the crops after harvesting.
For failure to do so he can be fined.
The Government sometimes finds it necessary to issue instructions to farmers requiring them to change traditional ways of
doing things in the interest of efficiency or to facilitate the carrying out of some specific project. Compulsion is sometimes necessary
since aversion to change is deep-rooted and in wartime many
changes must be made. A criticism frequently levelled at British
policy is that farmers are given too much leeway in the execution
of Government directions as to drainage, ordering of fertilisers,
use of feedstuffs, care of crops, etc.
Co-operation is most freely given when the farmers have confidence in the policy and fairness of the Government. One of the
chief points emphasised in the Sixth Report of the Select Committee was "the need to establish a spirit of confidence in order
to get the maximum productive effort out of the farming industry".
Lack of confidence and a consequent hesitancy in acting arise
partly from doubts about long-range policy. Some farmers are
afraid that the radical changes they are asked to make in order
to adjust themselves to the war will be reversed in peace-time and
that they will be left in a worse position than before. Only the
most shortsighted farmers, however, could allow these fears to
influence their war effort and account must be taken of the fact
that without these changes the United Kingdom might be in
danger of losing the war. In that event there is no doubt that the
farmers would be worse off. It is possible that the fears of farmers
regarding post-war policy have some effect on wartime output,
and they are the mainspring of the agriculturist's demands for
an official statement on post-war policy regarding agriculture.
The Government's policy must be as just and as equitable as
possible and the purpose of each action should be clearly explained
unless there are military reasons for secrecy. The extension for
one year after the war of the system of guaranteed prices and
markets is an important measure for obtaining the farmers' cooperation since it safeguards them against the loss they would
face if the war ended while they had large quantities of products
on hand for which there would be no peace-time market, and the
Minister of Agriculture has recently stated that the Agricultural
Executive Committees can plan for the harvest of 1945.
1

See below, p. 37.

34

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

Mechanisation and Labour

Supply.

The extensive use of mechanical equipment on the farm will
not only reduce the number of workers needed for a given output
but will also enable the work to be done more quickly. The number
of workers on the land at the outbreak of the present war compared
with the period before the last war does not accurately represent a
difference in productive capacity because of the larger amount of
mechanical equipment on the land at the beginning of this war.
The value of machinery in reducing labour requirements in agriculture and making possible a greater output with a given labour
supply has led the Government to build up reserves of agricultural
equipment—especially tractors—so that farmers without equipment and labour adequate to handle the increased acreage should
be able to hire equipment when needed. Between June 1939 and
July 1940 there was a net increase of between 17,000 and 18,000
tractors in Great Britain. By the end of 1941 over 100,000 tractors
were operating in Great Britain, as compared with 45,000 before
the war, and production and imports totalled around 1,000 a
week. The outbreak of war in the Far East, however, and the
increased strain on American industry forced a modification of
the original import plans. The Government is considering ways of
making greater use of existing resources and the possibility of
using a centralised Government agency to deal with machinery.
An Agricultural Machinery Development Board has been set up
to help to improve existing machinery, standardise parts, and
perfect new machinery. Considerable quantities of machinery
and farm implements have been imported from the United States
under the Lend-Lease Act and are being sold to farmers by the
Ministry of Agriculture. Ordinary trade channels are being used
for the distribution of this machinery. Importers, wholesalers and
other dealers act as agents of the Ministry and are paid a commission.1 Farmers must obtain a certificate of need from the
Agricultural Executive Committees before they are allowed to
purchase any new tractor. The War Office also assists farmers by
lending military transport vehicles for the harvest. The farmer
is charged an hourly rate which includes the vehicle, driver and
petrol.
Labour remains, however, one of the most serious shortages
hampering British agriculture. Measures have been taken therefore to prevent the drain of workers from the land, to restrict the
calling up of agricultural workers for military service and to get
new workers in agriculture. A minimum wage in England and
1

Farmers Weekly, 26 September 1941, p. 21.

AGRICULTURAL POLICY

35

Wales of 48s. a week for male agricultural labour was announced
on 7 June 1940. This measure to improve the remuneration of
agricultural workers was taken at the same time as the Government's order preventing anyone engaged in agriculture from
leaving the industry was made. The Undertakings (Restriction on
Engagement) Order, effective 10 June 1940, made it an offence to
employ men in any other industry who were normally engaged in
agriculture or coalmining, unless the worker was recommended
by a local employment agency as suitable, and male farm workers
over 18 years of age employed by the Agricultural Executive
Committees are tied to their jobs under the Essential Work Order.
In November 1941, the national minimum wage for regular adult
male agricultural workers was raised to £3 a week by the Agricultural Wages Board. There is no national minimum for women
workers except for members of the Women's Land Army. The
minimum for the Women's Land Army is considerably below the
wage for male workers.
Additional measures taken by the Government have encouraged
the return of former agricultural workers to the land, the increased
employment of women in agriculture, for which purpose the
Women's Land Army was created, and the use of conscientious
objectors in agriculture; and labour gangs and labour pools have
been organised for drainage, harvesting and other purposes. Special
hostels have been built by the Ministry of Works and Buildings
to house the mobile labour gangs and members of labour pools.
Some groups travel around the countryside in small mobile trailers
in which they live. Soldiers of the British Army are also available
for agricultural work on the land. The "number of troops made
available on a day to day basis during August 1941 was not far
short of 10,000 a day". 1 In addition, Italian prisoners of war are
being used in agriculture. About 7,000 are already in agricultural
camps and another 21,000 are to follow.2 Schoolchildren help with
the harvesting and many schools in agricultural areas have lengthened their holidays to allow the children to work in the harvest.
In September 1941 the Board of Education urged local education
authorities and school governors to encourage and assist schoolboy
harvest camps, which housed some 10,000 schoolboys during the
harvest of 1941, to remain open longer to finish the harvesting. 3
Agricultural Executive Committees have wide powers of control
1
Statement of the Secretary of State for War, Parliamentary Debates, House
of Commons,
30 September 1941, Vol. 374, col. 436.
1
The Times, 8 December 1941. Some prisoners with good conduct records
are allowed to live on the farms and work for the farmers (Daily Telegraph
and Morning Post, 3 January 1942).
• Farmers Weekly, 5 September 1941.

36

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

over the calling up of skilled workers. In 1941 the calling up of
some 10,000 workers under 25 years of age from the farms into the
army, originally scheduled for early autumn, was postponed until
after the harvest. The skilled worker is extremely important in
agriculture and not easily replaceable and it is therefore of the
greatest importance that he should not be taken from the land.
Dilution is much more difficult in agriculture than in industry
and skilled agricultural workers are not trained in a short time.
The workers called up were carefully selected by the Agricultural
Executive Committees as those who could be spared from agriculture with the least interference with food production. No
women working full time on the land will be called up.
The organisation of the Women's Land Army has been hampered
by the difficulty of predicting demand for female farm labour and
by the reluctance of the farmers to employ women. Training is
financed by the Government but enrolment is voluntary. At the
end of 1941 some 24,000 women were enrolled. The regular members of the Women's Land Army are enrolled for the duration of
the war, but there is also the Women's Land Army Auxiliary
Force composed of women volunteering to do seasonal work for
at least four weeks in the spring, summer or autumn.
Land

Tenure.

When a tenant's position is insecure, it may have serious effects
on agricultural production, and in wartime land speculation, unless
controlled, may develop menacing proportions. Speculators not
only acquire land for quick turnover but also to exploit the sitting
tenant by forcing him either to pay higher rents or buy his farm
at a high price. Just after the last war this method of exploiting
tenants became serious in some areas, and it has been developing
during this war. In response to widespread demands, the Government has decided to control this form of speculation. 1 The power
of the purchaser to give effective notice to quit to the sitting tenant
is now restricted. Any notice to quit to a tenant on any agricultural
holding subject to a contract of sale made since the outbreak of
war or sold under a contract made since that date, such notice
expiring after the end of 1941, is null and void, unless the consent
of the Minister of Agriculture (or the Secretary of State for Scotland) is given in writing. Since at least 12 months' notice to quit
must be given to most tenants under the existing laws, these new
regulations cover all contracts of sale made since the outbreak of
war where notice to quit has been given since 31 December 1940.
1

See statement of the Minister of Agriculture, Parliamentary Debates, House

of Commons, 11 November 1941, Vol. 374, cols. 2044-5.

AGRICULTURA!, POLICY

37

The Agricultural Executive Committees have the power, as
noted above, to take possession of badly farmed and derelict land
with the consent of the Minister of Agriculture. They may then
let this land to suitable tenants or farm and improve it themselves.
The question of the ownership of this land therefore arises and
especially the question who is to benefit by the improvements
made. Under a recent Act 1 the Government was given power
to acquire ownership of land taken over by the Agricultural Executive Committees. The land is acquired at its value when possession
is taken and within five years after the war it must be offered
back to the original owner at a price determined by agreement or
arbitration if the Minister of Agriculture believes that the land
will be properly managed and cultivated. Thus there is no obligation on the Government to offer the land back to bad farmers or
owners. These provisions are not only a simple method of protecting the Government's investment in improving the land but
also allow the Government to make long leases to tenants willing
to take over, since the leases granted by the Government are not
affected by changes in ownership.
Credit Facilities.
The actual execution of the Government's programme of increasing production rests in the hands of individual farmers.
These men must have funds with which to buy or rent the equipment and labour they need on their farms, and this equipment
and labour must be made available. The ploughing up of additional
land resulted in an increased demand for agricultural credit. The
system of guaranteed prices and markets, on the other hand,
makes the industry a better risk. All the joint stock banks decided
during the first weeks of the war to liberalise their policy of agricultural loans.
This liberalisation of bank loans to farmers still left unsolved the problem
of the bad, or a t best doubtful, credit proposition, with which the agricultural
industry abounds. If the national emergency demanded t h a t credit risks be
taken in promoting the campaign to grow more food it seemed reasonable to
expect the community, through the Government, to shoulder those risks. 2

The Government therefore set up an Agricultural Requisites
Assistance Scheme to enable farmers to procure Government loans
for specific purposes. The chief reason for the scheme was to
facilitate the ploughing up of land. Loans are made at 5 per cent.
for short periods and are administered by the Agricultural Execu1

Agriculture (Miscellaneous Previsions) Act, 1941.
» The Economist, 5 October 1940, p. 431.

38

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

tive Committees. The scope of the scheme was extended in October
1940 to include loans to finance ditching, field drainage, manuring
and the purchase of goods required for farming operations. 1
This scheme does not attempt to meet all requirements for
agricultural credit, and the commercial banks are still the most
important sources of credit. The Minister of Agriculture has
arranged that the banks shall be represented on the Agricultural
Executive Committees, and to their representatives, known as the
Farm Credit Liaison Officers, are submitted farmers' credit difficulties. Complaints that lack of credit has been a serious factor
depressing agriculture are widespread among those interested in
agriculture, but the Select Committee has stated that "The evidence
that we have received does not support the conclusion that lack of
adequate credit facilities has been a substantial factor in hampering the agricultural industry". 2
Planning

Agricultural

Production

The general programme of increasing arable acreage, improving soil fertility and animal productivity, and supplying credit,
equipment and labour to agriculture, still leaves largely untouched
the problem of diverting agricultural activity into the production
of the commodities most necessary for the proper feeding of the
nation in wartime. This is accomplished by regulation of relative
prices, granting subsidies, rationing raw materials and conducting
educational campaigns. I t is particularly important that whatever
changes are introduced should be part of a long-term policy and
that continuity of policy should be maintained as far as possible.
The select Committee on National Expenditure stressed this point,
as follows:
What we do feel entitled to emphasise is that there is bound.to be waste of
national resources if there is uncertainty about policy; that the policy of agricultural production cannot, without waste, be changed from season to season,
but should cover a definite cycle or rotation; and that with the increasing experience and factual knowledge gained by the County Committees the aim
ought to be to work up to a more definite programme, covering not merely a
single season but a cycle of production.'

That such a programme for agriculture is of first importance
in the war effort of the United Kingdom is denied by none, but the
1
The Minister of Agriculture stated on 13 February 1941 that up to 11
February 1941, £130,000 had been lent to 1,200 farmers under the Requisites
Scheme. Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, 13 February 1941, Vol. 368,
col. 1520.s
Sixth Report, op. cit., p. 33.
• Sixth Report, op. cit., p. 26.

AGRICULTURAL POLICY

39

difficulties inherent in creating and executing a plan for agriculture
are very great.
Ideally, a carefully worked out food policy would precede the
formation of an agricultural policy. The quantity required of each
of the basic foods in the national diet would be determined as
accurately and as early as possible and for as long a period as
possible, since changes in one part of the food policy may have
a wide effect on the production of other foods. A change in the
programme for slaughtering livestock, for example, affects the
whole cropping programme. Furthermore, many decisions once
made cannot easily be reversed. In so far as unforeseen changes
in the military situation cause such alterations of policy, they are,
of course, unavoidable.
Once a food policy for the nation is worked out in detail, the
Ministry of Agriculture should work out a programme of agricultural production in conformity with this policy. At this point
arises one of the chief difficulties. A tremendous amount of detailed information is needed. Without this information only the
most general instructions can be issued to farmers. Lack of adequate
information has been an important reason for the vagueness of
British agricultural policy. A hurried farm survey 1 was carried
out in 1940 and the Minister of Agriculture was in a better position
the following year to plan production. During 1941 a new survey
was started to provide a detailed record and map of every farm.
Speaking of this new survey, the Minister of Agriculture said:
We . . . now . . . require a more extensive and uniform survey on which
to base our long-range policy as well as our policy for immediate problems. In
addition to ensuring t h a t each farm produces the maximum volume of food
during the war, we must collect the information necessary for the formation of
a sound, post-war agricultural policy. T h e survey now being carried out will
include the preparation of a map of every farm. I t is interesting to note t h a t
about half the leases of the farms in this country have no maps attached to
them. The information about each farm will include its natural potentialities,
the characteristics of the soil, its present state of cultivation, acreage of the
various crops, the animal population, and the condition of farm buildings. I t is
quite clear t h a t when this war is over what we have to do is to have sufficient
labour and building materials earmarked to provide the cottages required to
rehouse the rural population and also to put the farm buildings in order. I am
quite sure myself t h a t one of the most important steps t h a t can be taken to
raise the standards of the agricultural worker will be to see t h a t he is in a position to pay an economic rent for his cottage. Therefore this survey which we are
now making is an important foundation.*
1
Speaking of the Survey, the Minister of Agriculture said in the House of
Commons on 3 April 1941: " I t is the most important single thing we have
done".
1
Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, 19 November 1941, Vol. 376,
cols. 422-3.

40

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

Agricultural planning must be carried out within the limits
established by the scarce factors of production. It must therefore
be integrated into the entire national war economy, since the
supply of agricultural factors of production, including raw materials,
is to a large extent determined by the demands for them from
other segments of the economy. Industry and the army compete
with agriculture for, among other things, land, labour, mechanical
equipment, shipping space for imports, petrol, oil and transport
facilities. The chief problems in planning do not arise in the working out of the "master plan" but in the integration of all the subsidiary "plans" necessary for the execution of the larger scheme.
The problem presented above is nothing less than the utilisation
of scarce resources in the optimum manner and must be solved
with reference to the whole production programme of the
country.
The optimum use of those resources set aside for agricultural
purposes depends on the development of the most efficient techniques of production in relation to the output wanted. For example,
land fertility can be maintained by using artificial fertilisers, by
keeping livestock on land and by planting crops in certain rotations.
Which combination of these is adopted depends not only on the
needs of the soil and the custom of the farmers but also on the
contribution made to the total agricultural output. The kinds of
feedstuffs produced depend not only on what happens to imports
and what the land can most easily produce, but also on the diet
for dairy cows which will enable them to produce the largest
amount of milk. The ploughing campaign should be a selective
one, and this requires that all land capable of food production
shall be carefully classified. It has been suggested by Sir Thomas
Middleton that "Possible future, as well as immediate, requirements for more tillage could be met by arranging the land examined
in classes to be 'called up' for active service in food production as
needs dictate". 1 The kind and amount of food each piece of land
could produce and the amount of labour, equipment and fertiliser
required to produce it must be the basis of any classification.
The organisation of agricultural activities in line with all these
considerations would not, given sufficient knowledge of conditions,
be such a difficult job as it is if it were simply a matter of working
out plans and decreeing their execution. The greatest difficulties
arise because of the necessity of obtaining the production planned
from the voluntary activity of a large number of farmers, without
modifying too greatly the existing institutional framework.
1
"How to Increase Food Production", in Scottish Journal
January 1941, p. 87.

of

Agriculture,

AGRICULTURAL POLICY

41

The Minister of Agriculture has available fairly detailed information concerning farms and farmers on over 15 million acres
of arable land. The actual production programme for this land
is laid down in general terms and in accordance with the food
policy outlined by the Ministry of Food in collaboration with the
Food Policy Committee of the Cabinet and the Scientific Food
Committee. So far the food policy is also stated only in the most
general terms. Maintenance of the milk supply, self-sufficiency
in feeding stuffs, and an increase in cereals, sugar beet, potatoes
and other vegetables, are the cornerstones of the policy. In the
last war agricultural policy was concentrated on producing cereals
and potatoes to stave off starvation. Less attention was given to
milk supply, and livestock were relatively neglected. To-day,
milk production is in the forefront, and other livestock products
are given some emphasis. Farmers are urged to grow the so-called
"dual purpose" crops—those crops suitable for both human and
animal food, although wheat and sound potatoes are not allowed
to be used for animal feeding.
Wheat, in the opinion of the Minister of Agriculture, is "the
sheet anchor of the nation in wartime" and he urges the farmers
to "sow all you can". 1 Other cereals receive less stress but next
to wheat comes barley and then oats. Rye should, according to
the Minister of Agriculture, be sown only in the lighter and poorer
soils. The Minister asked farmers to plant more sugar beets:
"Sugar factories must be filled to capacity next year". 2 A large
increase in potatoes is contemplated. As to milk, "Every gallon
counts. Do everything in your power to maintain production
this winter." 3 Soft fruits, with the exception of black currants,
which are an excellent source of vitamin C, are not encouraged.
In the case of vegetables, emphasis is put on carrots, onions and
cabbages.
The effect on soil fertility of repeated cash crops is not forgotten, however, and the general policy now is to give encouragement to one-year leys (fallow) where the fertility of the land has
been lowered by one or more cash crops. Re-seeding to grassland is
allowed with the permission of the Agricultural Executive Committees and the Committees may, if necessary, compel farmers to
lay down part of their land to leys. Stocks of approved strains of
grass seeds will be available for farmers next spring.
1
Speech of the Minister of Agriculture a t Norwich, as reported in Farmers
Weekly, 24 October 1941, p. 18.
» Ibid.
» Ibid.

42

POOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

Adjustment of Relative Prices.
The farmer's net money income is determined primarily by
the profit obtained from the sale of his produce. He will therefore
tend to produce those commodities which seem likely to yield
him the highest profit. The conditions necessary for the profitable
production of any particular crop do not exist on all farms. The
character of the soil and climatic conditions limit the range of
crops that can be grown successfully on any particular farm. The
capital equipment on many farms is specialised for the production
of certain crops and a change to the production of other crops
would involve a loss to the farmer. The knowledge and experience
of the farmer himself will affect the type of production he engages
in. This is strikingly illustrated in the case of livestock. The rotation system in use is another factor limiting the choice of the
farmer as to the crop he shall produce. In addition farmers who
are primarily engaged in mixed farming rarely know how profitable
any particular crop is.
Nevertheless, within these limits, the farmer will tend to produce for sale those crops for which the difference between cost of
production and selling price is greatest. Since the costs of production of a particular crop are different for different producers on
similar land and for the same producer on different qualities of
land, only that part of the crop produced at lowest cost will be
profitable when prices are low. On the other hand, if the price is
high previously marginal land and less efficient farmers can be
profitably brought into production. Furthermore, the returns
from the crop of one year have an important effect on the production of the following year, since the returns from one year's crop
are used to finance the next year's production. Since agricultural
production is influenced by the relative profitability to the farmer
of different crops, which is in turn determined by the relative
price-cost relationships of alternative products, the British Government has relied to a large extent on the fixing of relative prices
to call forth the production desired. Such attractive prices are
fixed for most agricultural products, however, that' it is difficult
to get the farmer to reduce his production of anything in favour
of something else. Beef prices, especially, are probably not low
enough compared to milk prices to encourage dairying as an alternative to beef production to a sufficient extent, and the rationing
of feedstuffs has been used to supplement relatively ineffective
price differences.
The same price is offered to all farmers, and since the price is set
to cover the cost of producing that part of the product produced

AGRICULTURA!, POLICY

43

on third-class farms, the total cost to the consumer of purchasing
the product is greater than the total cost to the agricultural community of producing it. The alternative to paying the same price
to all farmers is some form of negotiated contract with each farmer
paying him a price that would cover his average cost of production
plus a reasonable profit. Even this has its disadvantages 1 and is
impracticable in agriculture, where cost accounting is hopelessly
defective and where there is a very large number of small producers.
The method of inducing the farmer to produce the required
products in the appropriate quantities by fixing prices to cover
the highest production costs has several disadvantages particularly
important in wartime, which special measures should be taken to
offset. In the first place, in so far as it is necessary to offer a higher
price for a greater output, those products most urgently needed to
feed the people will be highest in price. When the Government is
the purchaser of food it can, as the British Government does for
many commodities, sell to the consumer at a lower price than it
pays. This form of subsidy offsets the higher agricultural costs
and helps to stabilise the cost of living.
In the second place, higher prices allow increased profits to
those producers whose average costs of production are low and who
therefore make excess profits which have no necessary relation to
their own efforts. Since excess profits are particularly undesirable
in wartime, methods of taxation have been devised to catch such
profits in agriculture as well as in industry.
Nor is reliance on the profit motive a thoroughly efficient
method of increasing production. Farmers do not always know
what will give them the greatest profits and, contrary to the behaviour.of the "economic man", they do not always care. High profits
may actually encourage inefficiency since the farmer is not forced
to be as efficient as possible in order to make a profit. In the 19141918 war many farmers gave little attention to efficient production
since agricultural prices in some instances were allowed to rise to
levels that assured a profit to the most negligent farmer.
The Government can control agricultural prices more effectively
if consumers' demand is not allowed directly to influence firsthand prices. This is best accomplished by making the Minister of
Food the sole buyer of agricultural food products. A food policy
based upon the nutritional needs of the nation and designed to
distribute equitably a limited supply of food will require different
quantities of each food from those quantities that would be required
if unregulated consumer demand were the chief influence on agri1
Under this system there is little incentive to reduce costs and, on the contrary, padding of cost statements would probably result.

44

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

cultural production. Consumers' demand is affected by grossly
unequal income distribution, which allows the richer members of
the community to influence the agricultural output of the nation
in such a manner that luxury foods for one group of the population
are produced and not enough basic foods for the rest of the people.
The free and cheap milk scheme effective since the war in Great
Britain 1 furnishes a striking example of what happens when an
essential food is made available to all groups in the population,
and if it were possible to increase milk production during the war
there would, without doubt, be a great increase resulting directly
from the Government's policy of facilitating the translation of
consumers' needs into effective demand.
On the other hand, consumers' tastes frequently run counter
to their needs, and in wartime it is the duty of the Government to
do its best to influence these tastes so that nutritionally important
foods shall be substituted for others less important. A production
policy designed to make these foods cheap and abundant will help
to influence tastes.
British Price Policy. In the United Kingdom the prices of most
agricultural products are fixed for each season and the market
guaranteed for the duration of the war and for a year afterwards.
The prices fixed in order to call forth increased production are
calculated, according to the Minister of Agriculture, to provide
the possibility of adequate returns on third-class farms. This
naturally leaves an excess profit to farmers on the more efficient
farms. Farmers before the war were allowed to pay their income
tax on the basis of the annual value of their farms, but now farmers
with an annual value exceeding £100 are assessed on their annual
profits, as are other forms of business activity. 2 Furthermore the
excess profits tax is applied to farmers. In the determination of
prices, consideration is given not only to the
wartime rise in costs of production which of course varied as between different
commodities, b u t to the fact t h a t the general financial position of agriculture
before the war was unsatisfactory and t h a t the production of several commodities was unprofitable except on the more favoured farms. This, according to
the Ministry, explains the relatively small percentage increase in the price of
potatoes—the production of which was one of the more profitable parts of the
farming enterprise in pre-war years—and the relatively large increase in the
1

See below, pp. 121-122.
Until recently the dividing line between those who must pay income tax
on the profit basis and those who could still choose to be assessed on the rental
basis was fixed at £300; and at this figure it was estimated that probably not
more than 5 per cent, of farmers would be assessed on their annual profits (The
Times, 16 June 1941).
s

AGRICULTURAL POLICY

45

price of such commodities as fat cattle, oats and barley, and wool which before
the war were, generally speaking, among the least profitable products except
under unusually favourable conditions.1
The price of beef is intended to provide for increased costs of
production and also for seasonal variations in costs. The special
price for "quality" animals 2 was abolished in July 1940. The
Ministry of Food does not want to encourage this type of animal
because of the increased cost of feeding it and the need for conservation of feed concentrates. For a limited period in 1941 the special
grade was reintroduced and the price for this grade set higher than
that for the next grade in order to encourage the early marketing
of the higher-grade cattle. The same procedure will be followed
for a limited period in 1942. The seasonal variations in price are
wider than in peace-time to furnish an incentive for the winter
feeding of beef cattle and sheep and to prevent excessive marketing
in the autumn. In the autumn of 1940 too many cattle were offered
for sale and there was a glut on the market, so that the Ministry
of Food had to restrict the numbers purchased. Prices are set to
encourage greater marketing of beef in summer and to keep a
reserve on the hoof during the winter.
In April 1941 the Ministry of Food announced increased prices
for lean cattle. To induce farmers to sell their cattle as soon as
they are moderately fit for killing, the prices of steers, heifers and cowheifers killing out 3 at 50-52 per cent, were increased substantially.
Less grazing remains for cattle this summer and with the need for using more
arable crops for direct human consumption coupled with the reduction in supplies
of imported feeding stuffs for next winter, it is clearly sensible from every point
of view to make a heavy clearance of beef cattle during the next few months.
In the new schedule of cattle prices the Ministry of Food will pay more for lean
and unthrifty cows which would not in ordinary times be considered fit for the
butcher without further feeding.4
1

Sixth Report from the Select Committee on National Expenditure, op. cit., p. 12.
From March to July 1940 the price for cattle estimated to yield a carcase
return of 60 per cent, or more was 4s. 6d. per live cwt. more than the price for
standard grade A animals. The elimination of the premium for quality beef
caused much disappointment among breeders of quality cattle. These breeders
maintain t h a t high quality cattle production does not necessarily involve the
use of heavy supplies of concentrates. " T h e yield of quality beef in large proportion is an inherent property of certain types of cattle t h a t have been specially
bred for beef producing properties." Fine bones and quality meat are bred in
these animals and are not a question of feeding. Nevertheless, the Ministry of
Food contends t h a t a premium on cattle yielding a high percentage of meat to
live weight would encourage the use of concentrated feeding stuffs to fatten
cattle whose quality is not the result of breeding. See correspondence between
the Aberdeen-Angus Cattle Society and the Ministries of Food and Agriculture,
in Scottish Farmer, 25 January 1941, p. 328.
3
The "killing o u t " percentage represents the relation between the meat
obtained from an animal and its live weight.
4
The Times, 28 April 1941.
2

46

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

This was done to encourage the dairy farmers to cull the pooryielding cows from their herds. In November 1941 these special
prices for low-grade cattle were dropped, since the culling process
was deemed to be completed. Steers, heifers, cow-heifers and bulls
killing out at less than 49 per cent., and cows at less than 47 per
cent., are now ineligible for grading and if sent to collecting centres
are treated as rejects and paid for at 4d. per pound estimated
dressed carcase weight fit for human consumption, plus an allowance for the hide.
The prices of the various grades of pigs and of poultry were
set for 1940 and part of 1941 to encourage producers to cull their
herds, but were readjusted in 1941 when the number of pigs required
no further reduction. The relative prices of baconers and porkers
favour the production of baconers. Prices of higher-grade sheep
have been raised relatively to those of the lower grades to encourage
the winter feeding of sheep on arable land in the interest of land
fertility.
Potato prices for the 1940-41 crop were fixed to give farmers
a substantially increased return per acre compared with 1939, and
maximum prices were 5s. per ton higher than the minimum prices.
The Ministry of Food has agreed to buy any surplus and is accumulating a large stock for end-of-season use to prevent a shortage
such as took place in 1941, and prices are fixed to encourage farmers
to sell potatoes to the Ministry for delivery in June and July. In
1941-42 potato growers were paid a fixed price on the quantity
grown and £10 an acre. Thus the potato crop is paid for in two
ways—a price per ton and a payment per acre. The total amount
received by the grower is greater than the total price paid for the
crop by consumers, and there is thus an element of subsidy, but
it is not equivalent to £10 per acre.
Prices are set for wheat, oats, rye and barley for feeding1 and
the Government will purchase any surplus. The prices of all these
products are appreciably above the pre-war prices. Before the
outbreak of war in the Far East wheat and oat prices increased
during the winter months to cover costs of storage and to encourage farmers to market their produce at an even rate throughout the winter. But the strain thrown on shipping space by the
war has made it necessary for the Government to reduce its wheat
imports and draw on home reserves. Prices to farmers have therefore been altered to encourage them to deliver their wheat earlier
1
The price of barley for brewing was long left uncontrolled, and it was said
t h a t some farmers shifted to barley from wheat because malting barley prices
made production profitable. Some of the finest pale ale barley sold as high as
£ 6 to £7 a quarter (The Times, 27 November 1941). In March 1942 maximum
prices of malting barley were established.

AGRICULTURAL POLICY

47

than was at first planned. To speed up threshing operations wheat
farmers are to have priority in the allocation of threshing
tackle.
The Ministry of Food purchases the carrot and onion crops
and any surplus of edible threshed peas.
The "pool price" of milk to the farmer has been raised several
times and the monthly prices guaranteed during 1941 and 1942
are appreciably higher than the 1938-39 prices, part of the increase
resulting from the increased labour costs due to the increase to £3
a week of the minimum wage. The Ministry of Food has announced
its willingness to review the prices for the winter period ending
3 March 1942, if "the producers claim . . . that the average increase in costs of production in that period of six months over
the costs in the corresponding period of the basic year 1938-39
exceeds the average increase in producers' returns as compared
with the same period". 1 The increase in prices is also designed to
give "farmers an added incentive to ensure the maximum output
at the period of the year when milk is most needed". The Ministry
gave a similar undertaking for the 1940-41 prices, and upon the
application of the Milk Marketing Board and the National Farmers'
Union for a review of milk prices during the six months ending 30
September 1941, on the ground that the costs of production exceeded the average return to the producer, the Ministry of Food
granted a retrospective increase in producers' prices.
The pool price to producers varies in different regions, and
premiums for tuberculin-tested and accredited milk are paid,
while milk below standard is penalised. Regional variations were
originally designed to allow for the varying proportions of milk
going into the liquid and the manufacturing markets in the different regions, since the two markets commanded different prices.
During the winter all milk goes into the liquid market, and consequently the existence of regional variations in price no longer
has the same justification; there are rumours in the press that
they will be withdrawn.
Prices for agricultural products are fixed by a Cabinet Committee including the Ministers of Food and Agriculture. The
demands of farmers' organisations are considered. No standardised
system of costing has ever been introduced in agriculture, and
costs of production are therefore largely an unknown quantity,
although the Ministry has a Farm Management Survey which
existed before the war and a milk costings scheme which has been
1

Press Notice No. 818, 12 February 1941.

48

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

in operation on a national uniform scale for several years. 1 Costs
of milk production are, therefore, fairly well known. In addition
sugar beet costs can be fairly accurately computed as a result of
the close relation between the Government and producers under
the pre-war subsidy scheme. Prices are, however, determined in
the last analysis by bargaining between the farmers' representatives and the Government. There are wide variations in the efficiency of different farms and farmers in Great Britain 2 , and an
average cost of production, even if it could be ascertained, would
be of little help. 3 Little is known of the relation between prices
and costs, although enough information is available for the Government to make a fair estimate. The level of price must be largely
a compromise between the farmers' demands based on self-interest
and the Ministry's proposals based on what they consider fair
except for those few foods which are considered least essential and
for which therefore low prices are set to discourage production.
There are extremely few foods, however, if any, for which a frankly
unremunerative price is fixed. The necessity therefore of offering
extra inducements to get farmers to produce the foods the Government wants badly results in a high general level of agricultural
prices.
Prices of some foods are set at different levels for différent uses
and are designed to direct the foods into the desired use. For
example, the prices of soft fruits encourage producers to sell them
to the jam factories rather than for direct consumption, pig prices
favour bacon pigs, and in order to get as much wheat as possible
for human food non-millable wheat that could be made millable
may be sold at the price for millable wheat less a reasonable charge
for reconditioning. On the other hand, sometimes prices tend
1
"So far milk is the only commodity for which any full system of costing
has been attempted. Apart from this the Ministry is continuing and carefully
watching its 'Farm Management Survey' which has been going on for several
years. Figures are being collected showing the profits made in each of a wide
range of different types of farming and the percentages of expenditure represented
by the various factors—fertilisers, seeds, labour, etc." Sixth Report from Select
Committee on National Expenditure, op. cit., p. 10.
2
See Sir A. Daniel H A L L : op. cit., pp. 50-56.
8
The Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food in answer to a question on egg prices said: "Owing to the very great diversity of methods and conditions of production and of marketing, an analysis of books would not yield
useful results. T h e Eggs and Poultry Reorganisation Commission for England
and Wales, in their report issued in January 1935, in dealing with this question
stated: 'While we recognise the difficulties of ascertaining the real costs of egg
production we have been impressed by the wide variations in the figures of costs
t h a t have been submitted, even when those costs- related to apparently similar
types of production units in the same district. We have come to the conclusion
t h a t it is quite impossible, having regard to all the difficulties, to calculate a representative cost of egg production either for t h e industry as a whole or for the
general farmer and the specialist producer separately'." Parliamentary Debates,
House of Commons, 25 July 1940, Vol. 363, ccl. 1003.

AGRICULTURAL POLICY

49

inadvertently to favour certain uses undesired by the authorities.
For example, before control was imposed on meat food for animals,
meat classified as unfit for human consumption was sold for dog
meat at higher prices than meat for human consumption and some
farmers therefore sold good meat as dog meat to get the higher
prices. Although this was not quantitatively important, it illustrates the necessity of controlling prices for even the minor uses of
a product.
Subsidies.
In addition to the general subsidy of £2 an acre for newly
ploughed land, the eradication of bracken subsidy and the drainage
and fertiliser subsidies, mentioned above, the Government grants
direct subsidies to certain producers. Beef cattle producers are
subsidised under the pre-war scheme, under which £4,921,230 was
paid in 1938.l The subsidy is covered by the prices charged for
beef. Hill sheep producers received 2s. 6d. for each breeding ewe
in flocks in 1941, but in December 1941 this subsidy was raised to
7s. 6d.2 A subsidy of £2 on every breeding cow is paid in respect
of highland cows grazing on the hills at least 8 months of the year.
The subsidy is confined to Galloway and Highland cattle and their
first crosses with a Shorthorn bull. Sugar beet prices are fixed
and the losses of sugar beet factories are fully met by the Government. The suspension of the wheat quota, embodied in the Agricultural (Miscellaneous War Provisions) Act, provides that deficiency payments to farmers will no longer be limited by acreage
restrictions or the total quantity of wheat ranking for the subsidy.
Only the restriction as to quality remains. Under the Wheat Act
deficiency payments were limited to the anticipated supply of
wheat in any cereal year.
Rationing of Feeding Stuffs.
Even though the Government controls prices and is the chief
buyer of many foodstuffs, its regulation of agricultural policy can
be made more effective by direct restrictions on production, by
rationing raw materials, and by establishing priorities in the distribution of raw materials, labour and equipment. In general the
British Agricultural programme is designed to increase production,
but in some branches of agriculture a decrease in production is
•See Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, 11 April 1940, Vol. 359,
cols. 703-4.
* A Committee has recently been appointed by the Secretary of State for
Scotland to study the problems of the hill sheep industry.

50

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

necessary because it is ho longer possible to import adequate
supplies of raw materials. The shortage of imported concentrates
and cereals for livestock production is especially serious in Great
Britain, and it has therefore been necessary to decrease the number
of livestock in the country. The nation's food policy gives preference first to dairy herds, then to beef, sheep, poultry and pigs in
that order. Therefore the limited supplies of feeding stuffs must
be distributed among the different producers according to what
they produce.
There are two methods by which the Government can accomplish this purpose, depending on the degree of shortage that
exists. If the supply is adequate to all the requirements of those
farmers who are producing the commodities considered essential
in the food production programme, the simplest method of ensuring
that these producers obtain the available supplies is to cut out
the demand for raw materials for the production of the less essential
products. This can be done by setting the prices of those products
of which a decrease in production is desired so low in relation to
the cost of the feedstuffs needed to produce them that only that
part of the product produced under the most favourable conditions
will be forthcoming, or none at all.
If, however, the supply is so short that a reduction is necessary
in the consumption of the raw material for all uses, some form of
rationing must be introduced. In the absence of rationing, the
Government, which is the sole seller, has the choice of setting the
price of the raw material so high that only the very lowest-cost
producers can continue producing at a profit, or setting the price
so low that the amount demanded will be greater than the supply.
In the first case the Government will be deliberately increasing
the cost and reducing the production of food in an extremely haphazard manner. In the second case, there will be a mad scramble
for the available supplies, great discontent among those who came
into the market too late to obtain a share of them and an even
more haphazard decrease in food production.
Rationing of raw material can be used to spread the decreased
supplies in a selective manner, giving preference to those producers
whose products are most urgently desired. For example, while
dairy producers in the United Kingdom receive rations for their
entire herds, egg producers were forced to reduce their flocks.
Rationing is the most effective way of controlling demand and of
ensuring that each producer gets his share of the total supply. If,
however, equal rations are given to all producers in the same industry, a uniform reduction in output is forced on all of them without reference to the efficiency of individual producers, or to the

AGRICULTURA!, POLICY

51

size of the farm and scale of production. 1 A large-scale poultry
or livestock producer has a considerable capital investment in
his farm. If he is forced to reduce his flock or herd so far that
part of his buildings and equipment are unused, he must work at
less than full capacity, and even if he is a most efficient producer,
he must make a higher profit on each unit« produced, if he is to
avoid a fall in income. This method of rationing raw materials
may lead to a higher price for a smaller output than would be
necessary if the same output were produced on fewer farms. A
waste of land and labour and a higher price to the consumer is the
result—a result that may be serious in a country engaged in a
total war. If, therefore, the total supply of any particular product
is to be obtained at lowest cost to the nation, it is desirable in some
cases to discriminate between different producers of the same
product in the allocation of limited supplies of raw materials. Any
reduction in output should, so far as is practicable, take place at
the expense of that part of the total product which is produced at
highest cost. In other words, it would be desirable to apply the
principle of "concentration of production" to certain branches of
agriculture if scarce raw materials are to be used to the best advantage.
Ideally, reduction in total output should be made almost entirely at the expense of the less efficient units, whether the differences in efficiency are the result of the size of the farm, the ability
of the farmer, or other factors. 2 This would undoubtedly work
great hardships on many producers for which the State could compensate them. If the farmer himself is inefficient he can be removed
and someone else put in charge of production. If the size of the
unit is too small to use labour and equipment most effectively, it
may be possible, through co-operation on the part of several
farmers, to increase the working size of the unit, irrespective of
ownership. 3 The investigations of Lord Astor and Mr. Rowntree
1
An interesting suggestion was made in the House of Commons on 24 July
1941, t h a t tuberculin-tested herds be given special treatment and exempt from
any reduction in numbers which might be required. Parliamentary Debates,
House of Commons, Vol. 373, col. 1099.
J
In wartime, efficiency, defined in this way, is not the sole criterion of what
concentration should take place. Military exigencies, availability of labour supply
and special problems of transport must be considered as well.
' The Agricultural Executive Committees have sometimes used their powers
to take over land not being properly cultivated for the purpose of taking over
land divided into a large number of small holdings where "the tenure itself has
been t h e main reason for the poor cultivation. For example, one committee
took possession of an area of 150 acres which was divided into 61 separate fields
ranging from 0.6 of an acre to 4.5 acres. New ditches were cut and the whole
area redivided into a smaller number of larger fields. See Statement of the
Minister of Agriculture, in Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, 9 October
1941, Vol. 374, col. 1159.

52

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

led to the conclusion that a flock of less than 400 to 500 birds does
not provide full-time employment for one man. When, therefore,
several poultry farmers must reduce their flocks far below these
figures and are unable to diversify their farms, it is obviously uneconomic to allow all these farms to continue producing at high
cost. When poultry is run on mixed farms the same problem is
not presented.
The suggestion that the authorities should give some attention
to the relation between the scale of production and output when
it is necessary for them to plan a decrease in production in any
branch of agriculture is not made without a full realisation of the
tremendous difficulties involved—difficulties more formidable than
those encountered in a similar programme in industry. Probably
the most serious drawbacks are the inadequate knowledge of costs
of production in agriculture, since the relation between cost of
production and the total output is the chief criterion of efficiency1,
and the effect such a drastic programme would have on the attitude
of the farmers.
The detailed knowledge of local conditions rapidly being
gathered by the Agricultural Executive Committees will facilitate
the planning of decreases in the production of some agricultural
products and increases in others along the most efficient lines.
The programmes must be executed by a judicious use of compulsion and co-operation.
The rationing of feedstuffs in Great Britain is not, however,
related to the differences in efficiency of various farms but solely
to the kind of product produced. This is partly because the predominance of mixed farming in British agriculture makes it possible
for livestock producers to grow a large proportion of their own
requirements of feeding stuffs. When Mr. Hudson became Minister
of Agriculture in June 1940, the farmers were warned that the
reduced supply of feeding stuffs would go first to maintain the
milk supply and secondly for winter feed for beef cattle and sheep.
Pig and poultry producers not producing their own feedstuffs
were advised to reduce their livestock by two-thirds. In December
1940 and January 1941 dairy farmers received increased supplies
of oil and compound cakes, but the actual rationing of concentrated
foods began on 1 February 1941. The pig and poultry rations were
1
"If there is to be a war plan for encouraging agricultural production and,
still more, if that is to be followed by a permanent policy in peace-time, it is allimportant that encouragement should not degenerate into protection of inefficiency. In fixing prices in relation to costs, therefore, it is obviously necessary
to have costs established according to standards of reasonable efficiency." Sixth
Report from Select Committee on National Expenditure, op. cit., p. 10.

AGRICULTURAL POLICY

53

based on one-third of the numbers existing in June 19391, while
the rations for beef cattle, dairy cows, sheep, farm horses and
goats were issued on the basis of the total number of animals on
the holding on 4 December 1940. An amount equal to the grain
produced on the farm was subtracted from the ration. 2 Cows in
milk and in calf received extra rations, and 1 cwt. per month
additional ration was given for each 32 gallons of milk in excess
of 13^ gallons per day per cow in milk or in calf.8
On 1 October 1941 the winter ration scheme was announced.
Farmers had been warned to make themselves as self-sufficient
as possible in feeding stuffs. In a joint announcement of 12 October
19404, the Ministry of Food and the Department of Agriculture
had urged farmers, in the interest of herd preservation, land
fertility and future food supply to retain as far as possible dairy
animals suitable for milk production; pedigree stock, the slaughter
of which is not necessary on grounds of disease or otherwise; ewes,
gimmers and ewe lambs necessary to flock maintenance; yearling
beef cattle suitable for further feeding; and heifer calves likely
to make useful dairy or beef animals. Again in June 1941 farmers
were told that:
Supplies of imported feeding stuffs next winter will be very short—so short,
in fact, t h a t every milk and beef producer must aim a t making his farm selfsupporting, either by the growing of fodder crops or by making plans for converting aftermath and roughage into silage. There will be a certain quantity
of by-products from wheat and a limited tonnage of cake from imported oil
seeds. But these must be regarded as "bonuses".
I t is for this reason t h a t Mr. Hudson, the Minister of Agriculture, impresses
on every farmer the vital need for making his farm self-contained. With this in
mind the Minister urges t h a t every inferior animal should be culled—not in the
autumn, b u t at once. No animal incapable of showing an adequate return for
its keep must be retained. 6
A g r i c u l t u r a l policy is d e s i g n e d t o a v o i d t h e m i s t a k e m a d e i n t h e
l a s t w a r of k e e p i n g a l i v e l i v e s t o c k w h i c h c o u l d n o t b e p r o p e r l y
1
Arrangements were made for safeguarding sound pure-bred foundation
breeding stocks of poultry from heavy reductions in the rations. Accredited
and approved stocks coming under this arrangement are required to be bloodtested a t the veterinary laboratory of the Ministry of Agriculture.
s
T h e requirements of rationed feeds by the stock of any one farm are less
if the farm produces any of its own feed. If a farm produced more grain than
was necessary for its own stock it was classed as a "surplus" farm a n d the farmer
was granted no ration coupons until he had sold the surplus grain. He was then
entitled to receive coupons for a weight of protein equal to t h a t of any additional grain he sold. A farmer whose production of feed was less t h a n the requirements of his stock was classed as a "deficit" farmer and received ration coupons
to make up t h e deficiency.
* Ration Schedule for February and March 1941.
1
Scottish Farmer, 19 October 1940.
6
Scottish Farmer, 14 June 1941.

54

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

fed and which, therefore, produced neither meat nor milk. " I t is
far better, in our opinion, to keep a rather smaller head of cattle
alive, reasonably well fed and producing milk and meat than to
have them, as a farmer put it to me, walking about doing nothing
but growing old." 1
In accordance with these warnings, under the new rationing
scheme only dairy cows, calves, goats and female kids, pigs and
poultry in certain cases, since they eat little grass, and working
horses on holdings where grain is not grown, are granted feed
rations. Thus beef producers must feed their herds from their
own produce, although farmers who have a surplus of oats and a
deficiency of protein, or who have grown wheat which they are
unable to use for feed, now are allowed to sell their surplus and
are given some protein feed in exchange. Farmers are expected to
produce enough cereal on their farms for the maintenance of their
dairy cows and for the first half gallon of milk from each cow, and
they are given feed rations for the cows on the basis of the amount
of milk sold or converted into butter and cheese for sale. Concessions are made to farmers who have been unable to grow sufficient feed for the first half gallon of milk, but they are required
to take steps to produce fodder crops before next year. Farmers
who want to use rationed feeding stuff compounds for the whole
of their milk production are given enough coupons provided that
they sell to an approved buyer not less than 4 cwt. of feed grain
for each cow they own.
Poultry producers receive rations on the basis of one-sixth
of their pre-war flocks, and commercial poultry keepers will be
allowed supplementary rations for chick rearing from January to
April 1942 that should enable them to rear chicks up to one-third
of their normal pre-war replacements. The proportion of protein
in the basic rations for both pigs and poultry has been increased
from one-tenth to one-eighth of the total. Poultry keepers with
13 to 50 head of poultry are entitled to purchase feed on the same
basis as keepers with more poultry. Those with 12 or fewer birds
are only entitled to purchase a specially prepared poultry "balancer
meal" which is supplemented by kitchen waste.
Tame rabbit keeping is also an economical method of producing
meat in wartime, since rabbits can be fed on waste vegetable
material from gardens and allotments and on greenstuff from
hedges. Domestic Rabbit Clubs have been formed under the general
direction of the Domestic Poultry^Keepers Council in England
and Wales and of the Scottish Gardens and Allotments Committee
1
The Minister of Agriculture, in Parliamentary
3 April 1941, Vol. 370, col. 1219.

Debates, House of Commons,

AGRICULTURAL POLICY

55

in Scotland. Domestic rabbit producers breeding rabbits for flesh
or fur receive a ration of 7 lbs. a quarter for each breeding doe if
they belong to an organised rabbit club. To obtain the ration,
clubs are required to sell not less than 50 per cent, of the rabbit
meat produced to the common pool, either through retailers,
British Restaurants or school and factory canteens.
The keeping of pigs on a small scale by all kinds of organisations has become popular and is a method of using large quantities
of food otherwise wasted. 1 I t is frequently pointed out that in
wartime the production of pigs is undesirable because they compete directly with man for food, but on the other hand they can
eat much food grown for man but which man discards as waste
and therefore they may be valuable for converting such waste
into food.
Rations for all livestock are provided from a national pool
of feeding stuffs made up of the by-products of manufactures
such as milling offals, oil cakes, brewers' and distillers' grains and
salvaged wheat, beet sugar residues, dried potatoes, rye and rye
products and such quantities of grain as growers may sell. The
pool is independent of supplies of imported feed.2 Domestic supplies
of feeding stuffs are exploited as fully as possible. The Ministry of
Agriculture has put much effort into instructing farmers about
the making and use of silage from fresh grass, and the 1941 production of silage is estimated at 2,000,000 tons. 8 The treatment of straw
with caustic soda, known as the straw pulp process, will produce
a starch food nearer a concentrate and able to replace sugar beet
pulp and roots. A campaign among farmers to increase production of straw pulp is conducted along lines similar to the silage
campaign. Kitchen waste is collected in most of the towns and
converted into swill for feeding pigs. Farmers have recently been
urged to make more use of wet brewers' grains and this is one of
the few feedstuffs that do not require ration coupons. In addition,
they are permitted to use any grain they produce, except unliable
wheat, rye and rye products to feed any livestock on their holdings.
1
" T h e Secretary of the Small Pig Keepers' Council reports excellent progress
with the formation of pig clubs in England and Wales, and since the Council
launched its campaign for pig clubs in May last year, over a thousand have
been registered—the 1000th being for members of the Royal Household a t
Windsor Castle—and these have over 25,000 members. Already, states the
secretary, this movement for converting food, which is usually wasted, into pig
meat is producing over 2,000 tons of pig meat a year, and he anticipates t h a t
in the very near future, the rate of production will be increased to 30,000 tons
a year, which would provide one week's ration for three-fifths of the population.
. . . Returns to date indicate t h a t 60 per cent, of the pigs kept by the clubs
are sold to the Ministry of Food." Scottish Farmer, 31 May 1941.
• Farmers Weekly, 29 August 1941, p. 23.
. » Farmers Weekly, 24 October 1941, p. 18.

56

POOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

Miscellaneous

Provisions.

Supplementing the regulation of relative prices and the system
of rationing and priorities is a variety of Government orders, appeals
and requests. Propaganda campaigns are conducted among the
farmers to acquaint them with the nation's needs and to urge them
to produce to meet these needs. The Minister of Food places
restrictions on the use of certain products such as those on homegrown millable wheat, rye and maize. The growing of certain
crops is directly restricted or prohibited by the Ministry of Agriculture; for example, all glasshouses used for producing crops for
sale must be wholly devoted to tomatoes at least six months of
the year unless they are planted with permanent crops. Further
planting of permanent crops in glasshouses is prohibited, and fruit
and flowers must be under-cropped with tomatoes. The area
under permanent flower crops must be reduced to 25 per cent, of
the pre-war acreage.
RESULTS

It is not possible at the present moment to evaluate with precision the results of the policy described in this chapter. Figures of
production and trade are not published. The few figures given
by Government spokesmen indicate that a considerable increase
in total production has taken place. Sixteen million acres are now
in arable cultivation, and yields in most cases were good in 1941
largely because of the favourable autumn weather. The most
outstanding achievement has been the maintenance of milk production at an unexpectedly high level, but in spite of this the
distribution of milk is regulated and individual consumption
restricted, since demand far exceeds supply, primarily as a result
of the free and cheap milk scheme. 1 The following table compares
the production and consumption of liquid milk in 1938 and 1941 in
England and Wales 2 :

September
October

Production
Consumption
(Millions of gallons)
1938
1941
1938
1941
89.5
89.0
62.5
80.5
87.5
86.5
64.5
84.0

November
79.5
78.0 1
December
78.0
75.0 1
Year
1,076.0 1,053.0 1
1
Estimated. These figures are probably high.
1

63.5
64.3
754.0

a ^ J S
d-$£? d 945.0 1

P

See below, pp. 121-122.
Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, 19 November 1941, Vol. 376, cols.
415-6; together with more recent figures supplied by the Ministry of Agriculture
2

AGRICULTURAL POLICY

57

Thus there has been an increase in liquid milk consumption of
nearly 200,000,000 gallons, and the Minister of Food estimated
that instead of consuming only 78,000,000 gallons in November
the country might have taken over 90,000,000 gallons had this
amount been available. 1 The high production in 1941 is particularly
remarkable since in the winter of 1940 the picture was most unpromising. In November 1940 the consumption of milk was 18
per cent, greater than that of the previous year, while production
had gone down by 14 per cent. 2
Although the numbers of dairy cattle have increased slightly,
the numbers of beef cattle, pigs and sheep have declined. Part of
the reason for the decrease in beef herds has been the ban on the
import of store cattle from Ireland, which kept out store cattle
for the greater part of 1941 and was imposed because of a serious
outbreak of foot and mouth disease in Ireland. The only cattle
imported from Ireland during this period were for immediate
slaughter. As a result, British feeders were denied their usual
source for the replenishment of their stock, and this affected the
number of cattle and the meat supply. Poultry flocks have also
declined, although not nearly by two-thirds.
The. output of cereals and straw in 1941 was 50 per cent.
greater than in peace-time, and the production of potatoes in
England and Wales was 50 per cent, above the peace-time figure.8
The output of root crops is estimated to be above the average for
the last ten years, although a low yield of sugar beet resulted in an
estimated output below average. 4 The production of some vegetables has also increased ¡'tornato supplies in 1940 were one-third
greater than in peace-time, and a further 20 per cent, increase
was expected in 1941. The 1941 carrot crop was 40 per cent.
greater than the previous year's crop.

» Ibid.
* See statement of Lord Woolton at his Press Conference, 26 November 1940,
reported in MINISTRY OF FOOD: Bulletin No. 62, 29 November 1940.
8
The Director of Potato Supplies in the Ministry of Food claims t h a t the
consumption of potatoes increased by 10 per cent, in the 1940-41 season and
will be even greater in the next season. Daily Telegraph, 3 December 1941.
4
Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, 19 November 1941, loc. cit., col.
415.

CHAPTER III
CONTROL OF SUPPLIES
AND OF THE CHANNELS OF DISTRIBUTION

The key to successful food control lies in obtaining control
over supplies at their source and over the channels of distribution.
Without control over and planned allocation of food supplies no
system of price control or rationing is feasible. Control over
supplies should therefore be the first step in the execution of a
food policy. The problem of controlling supplies at their source
varies with thé kind of food and the conditions under which it is
produced. Imported foods, home grown foods, and foods manufactured from imported and from domestically produced raw materials,
must all be handled differently since the problems inherent in
establishing control of these different classes of food vary.
Immediately after the outbreak of war the British Ministry
of Food set about obtaining control over the supplies of basic
foods. Serious shortages had not yet arisen, but it was realised
that the maintenance of stocks and the prevention of price dislocations were possible only if control was imposed before serious
shortages occurred and prices began to get out of hand. Control
over home-produced foods developed very slowly, however, and
in the first four months of war control of supplies was only extended
to certain imported foods, stocks of dried fruits, cereals and cereal
products, butter in cold stores or produced in factories owned by
the various Milk Marketing Boards and certain manufactured or
processed foods including margarine, cooking fats, bacon and ham.
By the end of the first year of war, however, some measure of
control over the supplies of all important foods had been established
by the Ministry of Food, with the exception of eggs, fish and fresh
and canned fruits and vegetables. By the end of the second year
of war, eggs, some fresh fruits and vegetables and canned fruits
and vegetables had also been drawn under control. No extensive
scheme has been devised for controlling supplies of poultry, most

CONTROL OF SUPPLIES

59

fresh fruits and vegetables, and fish.1 The extent and type of control
varies as between the different foods and in some cases is still unsatisfactory.
Although the importance was recognised of establishing control
over supplies before they became short and the market disorganised, and before prescribing maximum prices, the administrative
difficulties of controlling supplies have hindered the establishment
of control over certain types of food even when the need for regulation was great. Extremely perishable foods and foods produced
by a multitude of small producers are difficult to control and were
left to the last. It must be admitted that these foods presented
stiff administrative problems, but it is also clearly demonstrated
by the history of food control both in this war and in the war of
1914 that the longer the imposition of control is delayed the more
difficult the administrative problems become. 2 Great Britain's
policy is largely explained by the necessity of taking "first things
first" and therefore of getting complete control of the basic foods
before moving to the "less essential" foods. It was not practicable to
start controlling all scarce foods at once and consequently things
which ought to have been done were left undone chiefly because of
practical necessity. In some cases, for example milk, the necessity
for an extensive reorganisation of existing distributive channels
before effective Government regulation in the interests of the
consumer could be established, and the danger of breaking down
distribution by this reorganisation, have influenced Government
policy, while in other cases, notably meat, the Government has
boldly reorganised the whole trade. Whether reorganisation was
undertaken or not was to some extent determined by the effectiveness of normal trade channels under war conditions. Under
the pre-war conditions of meat distribution, control and orderly distribution would have been impossible in wartime, while, on the
other hand, milk distribution was successfully carried out under
the most difficult of war conditions.
1
Food control in this war has extended to many products which were not
controlled in the last war, but the foods t h a t have caused the Ministry of Food
most difficulty to-day are those which caused most difficulty in 1918. " T h e
control of domestic agricultural produce proved much the most difficult part of
Lord Rhondda's task. Certain schemes, such as the various attempts to establish control of pigs, were admitted to be failures; others, such as the control of
eggs, and home produced butter, only partially succeeded; and in t h e case of
many commodities from poultry to fresh vegetables, (excluding potatoes), no
thorough scheme for controlling supplies and distribution was ever attempted."
E. M. H. LLOYD: Experiments in State Control at the War Office and the Ministry
of Food (Oxford, 1924), p. 331.
2
For example, when sugar was finally rationed, the following editorial appeared in a trade journal: " T h e general feeling is t h a t the rationing of sugar
started too late. Stocks which were to be held over for emergencies were drawn
on shortly after the outbreak cf hostilities. Now, valuable shipping space has
to be taken up in the transport of sugar for the making up of these stocks."
Food Manufacture, 12 April 1940, p. 1.

60

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

Control over supplies cannot be separated from control over
the channels of distribution, since control over the latter is, in
fact, one method of controlling the former. Existing channels of
distribution could be left relatively intact in well organised, highly
concentrated and reasonably efficient industries, but in many industries organisation was loose or non-existent before the war,
and the units of production were small and numerous. In these
industries it was necessary for the Ministry of Food to reorganise
drastically some part of the distributive process and to create a
"bottle-neck" through which it could control the supplies of the
commodity concerned. Thus, packing stations have been instituted
in the egg distributive chain, and farmers are compelled to sell
their eggs to them; meat slaughtering houses are controlled by the
Ministry of Food; a vegetable marketing board has been set up
as the chief buyer of certain vegetables; a bacon board has been
created as the sole buyer of bacon. "Bottle-necks" easily taken
over already existed in many trades. For example, flour millers
are the "bottle-neck" in the cereal and cereal product trade, and
the Milk Marketing Boards in the milk trade.
Most imported foods are under the control of the Ministry of
Food before they leave the exporting country. Tea, for example,
is bought under direct Government contract with producers overseas. Imports of products for which no central importing board
has been created are allocated to c.i.f. buyers in proportion to
their share of these imports in pre-war days.
An Order was made in March 1940 prohibiting the import,
except under licence, of foodstuffs not covered by previous Orders.
Licences to import foodstuffs are granted on the recommendation
of the Minister of Food, so that all such imports may be limited as
required by the interests of the country as a whole, particularly
in accordance with the need for economy in shipping and foreign
exchange.
Control over the supplies of agricultural products is generally
secured by the licensing of buyers. Control over manufactured
and processed food products, however, operates through the licensing of manufacturers and through the control exercised by the
Minister of Food over imports and the raw materials of the food
manufacturers.
Control over supplies of agricultural products, manufactured
food, imported food and fish is, however, only the beginning of
food control. In times of security it is the sine qua non of any
effective food policy, but in addition the food must be sent from
the docks,, warehouses, cold stores, slaughtering houses, packing
stations, mills and factories to the final consumer with the mini-

CONTROL OF SUPPLIES

61

mum of waste. Stocks and supplies coming forward must be
estimated in advance so that arrangements for storing and transport can be made. The amount and location of consumers' demand
for each product must be accurately known so that all parts of the
country will be treated equally and one area will not have a surplus
going to waste while in another area housewives are queuing (waiting
in line) for scarce supplies. Perishable products must be handled
with the utmost speed, yet producers in the most distant parts
of the country must be treated equally with the rest.
CO-OPERATION WITH TRADERS

The work of distribution in peace-time is carried out by private
importers, brokers, wholesalers and retailers, most of whom, by
virtue of long experience, have a thorough knowledge of their
trades. It seemed, therefore, to the food authorities that if the
men and women who were accustomed to handling the problems
of wholesale and retail distribution could be used as agents of the
Ministry of Food to carry on their work in the public interest it
would place at the Government's disposal the experience of the
food trades as no other system could. Food control, as envisaged
before the war by the Food (Defence Plans) Department, was to
be a control "exercised through machinery operated, so far as
practicable, by food traders themselves and before each plan is
completed care will be taken to see that it is understood and
regarded as workable by the trades concerned". 1 This was the
policy of Lord Rhondda in the last war2 and it is the policy adopted
to-day. 3
1
Report of the Food {Defence Plans) Department (H.M.S.O., 1938), p. 9.
' "Generally . . . Lord Rhondda insisted that it was more important to
preserve continuity of supply and distribution and to let each trader work with
and through the men whose ways he knew, than to bring about social reforms
in wartime." Sir William BEVERIDGE: British Food Control (London, 1939),
p. 74.
' " T h e intention is t h a t the task of food distribution shall remain in the
hands of traders; men who know it from A t o Z and who merely become agents
of the Government, which is another way of saying the agents of the public."
Broadcast of Mr. W. A. Morrison, Minister of Food, 29 September 1939, quoted

in MINISTRY OF F O O D : Bulletin No. 4, 4 October 1939.

" I , as you know, am only prepared to exercise control in business where it
is absolutely necessary to the public interest. I want the traders of this country
to go on doing the jobs t h a t they have done before, feeling as free as possible
to do that. B u t some form of Government assistance and Government intervention is necessary. T h a t being the case, I, as Minister of Food, am most anxious
t h a t Government intervention shall be carried out in the closest possible co-operation with the trades t h a t it is going to affect. I t is my ultimate business to look
after the public interest, b u t I know, too, that I can rely upon you to look after
the public interest." Statement of Lord Woolton, Minister of Food, at a meeting
of the Food Manufacturers' Federation in May 1940, as reported in The Grocer,
25 M a y 1940, pp. 27-8.

62

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

The policy of working closely with the trades concerned in
creating and administering control schemes seems to be sound.
It is clear that no Government department could possibly replace
all or even a major part of the traders by civil servants and expect
to maintain the distributive mechanism without serious breakdown. It is equally clear that any large-scale breakdown in distribution, even for a few days, would seriously inconvenience a great
industrial country. Furthermore, the distributive system will
function much more smoothly if the traders and the Ministry of
Food work in co-operation than it would if the Ministry of Food
were constantly employing coercion to force the traders to act
against their will.
The policy of using the knowledge and experience of those
previously dealing in food has led to the appointment of men to
act as controllers for the commodities in which they had previously
dealt. The majority of the commodity controllers are thus drawn
from the trades they now control. 1 Much criticism in the press 2
and in Parliament has been directed at this aspect of the food
administration, and it may cause a certain amount of uneasiness
and distrust in the public mind.
In the beginning "trade" controllers were chiefly advisory,
and all important negotiations with traders were handled by civil
servants. In evidence before the Select Committee on National
Expenditure it was emphasised by the Ministry of Food that the
responsibility for ultirnate decisions in questions of manufacture,
1
The controllers cannot, however, maintain an executive interest in their
trade. " I t is a condition of appointment . . . t h a t holders should not exercise
executive control of any business connected with food importation, manufacture
or distribution. While it is recognised t h a t occasionally contact with their
busmess interests may be necessary, the over-riding principles which have been
laid down are: (¿) t h a t in all circumstances their private trade interests must
be secondary to and not conflict with their official duties and responsibilities;
(it) t h a t they must give no ground for any suggestion t h a t their firms or businesses are obtaining or are likely to obtain an advantage either during or after
the war as a consequence of their appointment." Parliamentary Secretary to
the Ministry of Food, in Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, 1 November
1939, Vol. 352, col. 1946.
They need not, however, be divorced entirely from any activity in the trade.
" I n a t least one case, an important 'Trade' official has been, simultaneously
with performing his official duties in the Ministry, engaged as a Trade representative in negotiating with the Ministry as regards the operating margins to be
allowed to his own trade." Fourth Report from the Select Committee on National
Expenditure (H.M.S.O., 1940), p. 29.
2
Cf. The Economist in discussing the question: "There is no need to assume
any deliberate partiality; unquestionably all the controllers are deeply anxious
to serve the public interest. But they have an unavoidable bias towards seeing
things through the particular spectacles of the interest from which they come.
There are a large number of instances where the controller's power has been
used to enforce changes in price or in trade practice (such as terms of contract,
et cetera) which, whether or not that was their purpose in the controller's mind,
have undoubtedly had the effect of benefiting the section of the industry from
which he comes a t the expense of its consumers." 9 December 1939, p. 364.

CONTROL OP SUPPLIES

63

processing, wholesale and retail distribution, margins and prices
"does not, in any case, rest with the 'Trade' Directors concerned
and that, in fact, the function of the Trade Directors is no more
than advisory". 1
The recommendation of the Select Committee was that:
Policy and general plans for achieving it should be clearly settled by the
Minister and his civil service staff. Once that has been done full value can be
made of the Trade Directors by allowing them discretion in executing the Minister's plans. Apart from this, it is particularly important that no suspicion should
be created that individuals interested in a particular trade have been able to
exert an influence inside the Ministry on the profit margins to be allowed to
such trade.'

In a memorandum on the recommendations of the Select Committee, the Ministry of Food stated that:
There is a clear distinction of functions between Trade Directors and Administrative Staff. In each Division there is an Assistant Secretary, who is
responsible for seeing that the Minister's policy is carried out and for submitting
recommendations on questions of policy. The Trade Directors are responsible
for carrying out the Control Schemes.*

In May 1941, however, certain changes were made in the
organisation of the Ministry of Food which were designed to place
"more definite responsibility on the Heads of Commodity Divisions". 4 The effect of this reorganisation was to place the trade
directors in an executive capacity and the civil servants in an advisory capacity in the commodity controls. With very few exceptions all the commodity directors bearing the "more definite"
responsibility are now drawn from the trade they control and their
influence over both the formation and the execution of policy is
enhanced, although final decisions on policy rest with senior civil
servants and the Minister of Food. It does not follow that these
directors have a free hand, however, since they are under close
observation. The Press, Parliament and officials of the Ministry
of Food know from what trade and firm each director is drawn,
and some directors are unduly rigorous in avoiding any suspicion
that they are aiding their trades directly or indirectly. There is
reason to believe that many of them are increasingly looking at
their work as a public service and are acting accordingly.
1
Fourth Report from the Select Committee on National Expenditure, op. cit.,
p. 29.
*Ibid.
* Memorandum by the Ministry of Food in Eleventh Report from the Select
Committee on National Expenditure, 1939-1940 Session, p. 12.
« Press Notice No. 1027, 20 May 1941.

64

POOD CONTRO!, IN GREAT BRITAIN

The policy of maintaining as far as possible the existing channels
of trade is an extension of the policy of working with and through
the food traders.
Subject to the right cf the public to fair distribution of food at reasonable
costs and to the need for the greatest possible economy in the use of transport
and man-power, it is the policy of the Ministry to avoid interference with the
normal machinery of food distribution. 1

In more than one case, as we shall see, the "normal machinery
of food distribution" was inefficient and wasteful and consequently
resulted in excessive cost to the consumer. In a few cases drastic
reorganisation was called for in the interests of the public, but
the interference with the normal machinery necessary was so great
that the Ministry of Food approached it with great reluctance.
The Minister of Food does not believe that the general question
of reorganisation of the distributive trades should be taken up in
wartime, in spite of the fact that if waste and inefficiency exist in
retail distribution they act as an offset to the food subsidy policy.2
The question involved is indeed how far social reform should be
carried in wartime. There have been far-reaching changes in the
distribution of many commodities, but these have been almost
invariably effected slowly and under public pressure.
The basic principles followed in the organisation of control
over supplies and distribution are therefore:
(a) the principle of obtaining control of supplies at first hand
by outright purchase or by the licensing of buyers, importers and
producers; and
(b) the principle of using the peace-time channels of trade
and the peace-time personnel as far as possible.
U S E OF NORMAL TRADE MACHINERY

Efficient and smooth distribution in peace-time depends upon
what are called "trade connections". These connections are built
1
Statement of the Parliamentary Secretary of t h e Ministry of Food in
Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, 5 August 1941, Vol. 373, col. 1797.
2
In a debate in the House of Lords on 19 June 1940, Lord Woolton, Minister
of Food, stated t h a t two recommendations of the Committee on National Expenditure had not been adopted : the appointment of a tribunal to control margins
and profits, and of a committee to consider the reorganisation of the distributive
trades. The first would take up too much time of many competent men and
officials; and the second would better be taken in hand when the war was won.
Parliamentary Debates, House of Lords, Vol. 116, col. 639.
The Committee appointed by the President of the Board of Trade to investigate the conditions of retail trade left out food distribution a t the request
of the Minister of Food.

CONTROL OF SUPPLIES

65

up from the demand of the final consumer; for, paradoxicallyenough, distribution must start with the consumer. Commodities
may flow from producer to consumer, but it is the consumers'
demand that sets the process in motion. To meet the requirements of over 46 million people in Great Britain, housewives and
buyers for innumerable types of catering establishments demand
food from retailers or wholesalers. Each retailer has a more or
less steady clientele upon which he relies. He bases orders to his
wholesalers upon his experience with this 'demand. Similarly,
wholesalers depend upon the demand of the retailers regularly
buying from them in making estimates of the quantities they order
from brokers or primary suppliers. Groups of buyers and sellers
come to know each others' habits. Relations based on confidence
in each other's integrity are established and credit is freely given
so that transactions frequently become almost automatic—the
buyer having confidence in the products of the seller and the
seller having confidence in the integrity of the buyer. The trader's
reputation—the "goodwill" accorded him—becomes a recognised
business asset. On these foundations "the existing channels of
trade" are built. Frequently traders will suffer financial losses
with less perturbation than they will suffer interference with their
trade connections, often built up slowly over a long period of years
—easily damaged and exceedingly difficult to restore. These trade
connections facilitate the smooth working of distribution, and
even in wartime the Government is loath to interfere.
Yet the Government must interfere. War itself interferes with
the usual sources of. supply; expected ships come in at different
ports, or do not come in at all; and shortages develop which make
it impossible for suppliers to fulfil their orders. In order to ensure
fair distribution the Ministry of Food must take over and pool
the supplies of many important products. Thus, retailers who
are accustomed to handling imported bacon found themselves
unable to continue in business without help when the bacon imports
into Great Britain were cut off. The Ministry of Food therefore
requisitioned part of the domestic supplies—sometimes as much
as 50 per cent.—in order that available supplies should be distributed among all dealers irrespective of the kind of bacon they
handled in the past.
Shortly after the outbreak of war the Ministry of Food requisitioned and pooled1 stocks of imported supplies of cereals and cereal
products, tea, imported canned meat, imported meat, imported
1
"Pooling" does not necessarily mean the production of a standard product,
b u t usually means that available supplies are treated without reference to ownership or quality for the purpose of distribution.

66

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

bacon and hams, dried fruits, sugar, butter, imported pork in cold
store, imported lard, oilseeds, vegetable oils and fats and marine
oils, and margarine and cooking fats. Sometimes the Ministry of
Food had to interfere with normal trade practice in order to protect food from enemy action. Thus, stocks of tea were taken over
because they were concentrated around the port of London and
for reasons of security it was necessary to scatter them more
widely over the country.
As shortages arise and maximum prices are imposed to prevent
the exploitation of the consumer, distribution tends to become
uneven and commodities disappear from the areas farthest removed
from the source of supply, since transport costs are higher when
food is sent to more distant areas. In this war, the extensive shifts
of population further disrupt the "existing channels of distribution". As the war goes on and economic organisation becomes
tighter, existing channels of trade must be increasingly interfered
with, and the process is by no means finished. We have seen the
importance of the ties binding wholesalers and retailers together.
Yet beginning in June 1942 the purchases of retailers will be confined to wholesalers in their own district. This is a drastic interference with normal trade channels made necessary by the importance of economising transport.
When the Government introduces food control it must not only
impose restrictions on traders, but in most cases must "take over"
certain industries and itself direct the activities of the industry.
When the Government "takes over" an industry or a firm, it does
not, as a rule, interfere with the internal organisation of the firm
but simply assumes the responsibility for decisions as to buying
and selling. The private traders are then employed as agents of
the Government and they buy and sell on behalf of the Government in accordance with its instructions. These traders are licensed
to act for the Government, and instead of buying and selling for
profit they operate on a commission basis or subject to specified
margins. It is frequently not possible or desirable, however, to
leave the distributive structure substantially unchanged, and the
Government has set up a distributing company of its own to deal
with many commodities. Nevertheless, even in these cases the
Government companies are largely staffed by men experienced
in the trade.
Administration is consequently left in the hands of traders as
far as possible. Similarly, when the Government requisitions
stocks of food, it does not take the food away from the traders
but simply assumes control over the disposition of the stocks.
The most common form of requisitioning order decrees that persons

CONTROL OF SUPPLIES

67

owning, having power to dispose of, or in possession of, stocks of
the commodity concerned above a specified minimum situated in
the United Kingdom at the time of the order in any bonded,
general or other public warehouse are required to put them at the
disposal of the Ministry of Food and to deliver them on order of
the Ministry of Food. If imported products are covered by the
order, persons owning or having power to dispose of stocks of the
product above a specified minimum arriving in the United Kingdom after the order, or situated outside of the United Kingdom, are
required to transfer ownership of the products to the Ministry of
Food. The orders only apply to food in merchantable condition
and fit for human consumption. Dealers are required to give
returns of their stocks to the Ministry of Food and to report the
location of the food. Dealings outside the United Kingdom are
generally prohibited.
Orders along these lines have been made for many products
including cereals and cereal products, oils and fats, butter, imported lard, margarine and cooking fats, dried fruits, imported
meat, cheese, tea, sugar, bacon and ham.
Importance of Trade Organisation.
Wherever possible the Government relies on the members of
each trade to solve the vast number of administrative problems
that arise, but the more integrated the internal organisation of the
industry, the easier it is for the Ministry of Food to make arrangements for the industry as a whole, and the easier it is for those in
charge to ensure that these arrangements are carried out. 1 It is
a simpler matter for the Ministry of Food to come to an agreement
with two or three large firms than with a multitude of small ones.
When the industry concerned is composed of many small dealers,
the Ministry of Food encourages and sometimes requires the
dealers to get together in a larger organisation for the purpose of
appointing representatives to deal with the Ministry. I t is recognised in the field of labour that collective bargaining between employers and employees of an entire industry cannot be conducted
satisfactorily unless both sides are organised. The principle is
exactly the same when it comes to collective bargaining between
the Government and the firms or shops in industry.
1
"The achievement of an ordered plan depends on central organisation;
but the centralisation need not necessarily be in the hands of the Government.
The more any trade was organised the less Government intervention was needed ;
and the more individualistic the methods and traditions of any trade the more
bureaucratic and highly centralised became the emergency organisation."

E. M. H. LtOYD: op. cit., p. 370.

68

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

Many Orders of the Ministry of Food would be impossible to
carry out without the co-operation of the trade, and to obtain
this co-operation it is necessary to find men sufficiently representative of the trade to act for it. In the war of 1914-18, although
the powers which could on paper be exercised by the Government were despotic,
in practice the Food Controller was a constitutional monarch who could only
govern with the support and approval of any particular trade. The voluntary
co-operation of traders and manufacturers was at least as important as the wide
compulsory powers conferred by the Defence of the Realm Act: all the innumerable Boards, Councils, Associations, and even Advisory Committees which were
associated with the work of the controlling departments, functioned to some
extent as representative governing bodies of the trade or industry concerned.
Some of these bodies merely bargained and negotiated, others advised on policy,
some acted as courts of appeal for disputes between traders or between the
Government and individual traders; others took on more definite administrative
functions, such as the rationing of raw materials or the allocation of orders; but
all of them, even the least effective and most ephemeral, shared some of the
responsibility for the working of control and contributed to the smoothness or
friction with which it was administered. They all illustrate to a greater or less
degree that limitation and devolution of power alone made control possible.1
In food control to-day, trade representatives and trade associations are performing similar functions. The associations serve
as forums for the discussion of problems of food control by the
traders, and their representatives on the food control committees
and advisory committees are thus in a better position to reflect
the opinion of the trade as a whole. 2
There are five trade members on each of the local Food Control
Committees, and trade representatives sit on all the commodity
advisory committees. Thus the distribution of tea, for example,
which is based upon the normal trade machinery, is controlled by
the Tea Control Committee, with whose assistance the original
control scheme was drawn up. This Committee is composed of
three sections: one section represents producers, who advise on
purchase ; another represents brokers, who form the "selling section"
and arrange grading and the allocation of tea to blending and packing firms; the third is composed of representatives of the distri1
!

Ibid., pp. 352-3.
The experience outlined in a report presented to the annual conference of
the Scottish Federation of Grocers' and Provision Merchants' Associations is a
common one. ". . . Representatives of the Federation have served since January
1938 upon Retailers' Advisory Committees of the then Food (Defence Plans)
Department, now the Ministry of Food. Throughout the year, and particularly
since the outbreak of war and the coming into force of food control, still closer
consultation has been maintained with the Ministry of Food, which has since
set up various Advisory Committees for different commodities. Upon those
Advisory Committees representatives of the Federation have served, involving
constant attendance at meetings in London as well as in Scotland." The Grocer,
8 June 1940, p. 21.

CONTROL OP SUPPLIES

69

butors. Under control, the responsibility of the Ministry of Food
must start with the primary suppliers and go right down to the
consumer. Effective organisation, however, requires that at each
stage the co-operative functioning of all or a majority of the traders
in that stage should be obtained. This co-operation can best be
effected if the traders concerned are organised. Therefore, bakers'
associations, millers' associations, butchers' associations, grocers'
associations, wholesale meat supply associations, etc., are created
if they do not already exist. Mr. Lloyd observes that the form
of organisation adopted in the last war, which is similar to that
adopted in this war, "has points of resemblance both to the horizontal cartel and to the vertical trust. The logical form of organisation to which it approximated might be defined as a vertical combination of horizontal associations." 1
One problem arises from the extensive use of trade organisations
and trade personnel. It is not unnatural for any firm or industry
to refrain from doing anything not absolutely necessary that might
prejudice its post-war position. Nor is it unnatural for a firm or
industry to take advantage of any opportunity that might arise
to improve its post-war position. This is an aspect of the food
situation which must be carefully watched. It is difficult to tell
how successful the Ministry of Food in Great Britain has been in
preventing some firms and industries from taking advantage of
their position in this manner. I t is frequently alleged that British
food control unduly favours the larger organisations. The question
of the position of the small trader is a peculiarly vexing one. Criticism of the Ministry of Food for hurting the small man not infrequently comes from the same people who also criticise the
Ministry for putting as much emphasis as it does on maintaining
the existing channels of trade and for thereby failing to organise
food distribution in the most efficient manner. To some extent
the most efficient organisation of distribution is in conflict with
the existence of many small traders. From the point of view of the
war effort the less waste in distribution the better, but the social
and political effects of driving many small men out of business
are not to be ignored. The policy of the Ministry undoubtedly
represents a compromise between these two aspects of distributive
organisation, and in several respects food policy is deliberately
designed to help the small trader. One reason for requiring consumers to register for commodities at a particular shop was that
it was felt that if they were thus assured of their supplies from
the local grocer they would register with him and buy from him
if they normally had done so instead of preferring the larger shop
1

E. M. H. LLOYD: op. cit., p. 351.

70

FOOD CONTRO!, IN GRBAT BRITAIN

with its greater stocks and perhaps greater certainty of supplies.
On the other hand registration was not required for points rationing 1 because this ration covered a variety of goods and the consumer would probably register with the large shop for that reason.
The ability of the consumer to purchase without registration gives
the small man a chance to get some of the custom even if the
variety of goods he carries is less than that of the big shops.
ALLOCATION OF SUPPLIES

Since under control commercial incentives no longer regulate
distribution, it is necessary for the Ministry of Food to adopt
other criteria for the guidance of those in charge of buying and
selling foodstuffs. Demand is no longer equated to supply by the
movements of prices, and the reduced supply must therefore be
allocated as fairly as possible among the various distributors on
some other basis. For whatever method of allocation is adopted,
a large and competent statistical organisation within the Ministry
of Food is required. The uncertainty attached to all forecasts
must be minimised, since mistakes have more serious consequences
in wartime than in peace-time. Calculations as to profit to be made
on any transactions are replaced in the books of distributors by
statistics showing the location and amount of demand, which are
ultimately based for the more important commodities on the
registrations of consumers.
Rationed foods and foods for supplies of which consumers
are required to register are distributed in accordance with the
consumer's registrations, with the exception of tea, which is distributed to retailers on the basis of the supplies received immediately
prior to rationing and those foods rationed in accordance with the
points scheme.
The first allocation of these last-mentioned foods was done on
the datum period principle with certain modifications, and subsequently they were distributed on the basis of the coupons turned
in by retailers. As the number of foods included in this scheme
was extended, the problem of allocation became increasingly more
difficult because, although each retailer can be given a collection
of foods equal in "point value" to the coupons he has turned in,
there is no way of determining the distribution of his consumers'
purchases among the different foods. So long as the foods included
in the ration were close substitutes both nutritionally (i.e. chiefly
proteins) and from the standpoint of consumers' tastes, the pro1

See below, p. 117.

CONTROL OF SUPPLIES

71

portion of each food to the whole was less important. 1 When,
however, dried fruits, sago, tapioca, rice and some other cereals
were added to the points ration, which originally included primarily
canned meat and fish, the difficulties of allocation were increased,
since the substitutability of all foods in the ration is diminished.
If a consumer requires prunes, he will not be content with fish.
It would seem that if a differential marking of the coupons valid
for the different classifications of food—i.e., proteins, cereals and
fruit—could be adopted this difficulty would be mitigated.
Unrationed commodities are distributed on the datum period
principle. 2 Each wholesaler is allocated a certain proportion of the
supplies that he handled in the basic period selected for the calculation—generally a pre-war period. The wholesaler is supposed to
supply retailers with the same proportions of the amounts they
bought from him in the basic period. Dealers in controlled foods
must apply for buying permits from the agents of the Ministry
of Food before supplies can be allocated. The datum period system
has many serious disadvantages, but in the absence of some form
of limitation on demand it is an easily adopted, rough and ready
method of allocating supplies.
When the datum period is used as a basis for allocation of
supplies no account is taken of changes in the existing channels
of trade. In fact, if the datum period is strictly adhered to, changes
are prevented and existing inefficiency and waste are preserved.
There is no assurance to any individual consumer that he will get
his supplies, and if a proportionate reduction is forced on rich and
poor alike the reduction will bear harder on the poor, since their
consumption is lower and consequently each unit of the product
is more important, even necessary, to them. 8 Nor does allocation
according to a datum period make allowances for changes in the
distribution of population. This has been of particular importance
in the United Kingdom in the present war, and manufacturers and
distributors are supplied with figures of the movement of population to help them adjust their allocation of unrationed foods.4
Efforts are made to prevent dealers in food from changing
their buying habits as a result of control. For example, catering
1
Unless, however, each retailer receives the foods in the same proportions
as other retailers, there is a p t to be disatisfaction. For example, some retailers
complained in the first distribution that they received little salmon while others
received salmon up to as much as 50 per cent, of their total supplies of the "points"
food.
1
Until dried fruits were rationed, however, they were distributed according
to the distribution of the sugar registrations.
' See Sir William BEVERIDGE: op. cit., pp. 184-5.
4
These figures are estimated from the statistics of consumers' registration
for sugar.

72

FOOD CONTRO!, IN GREAT BRITAIN

establishments and public institutions are encouraged to take
meat from retailers and not from wholesalers if they did this before
the war. Supplies are granted only to established firms and only
if they were dealing before the war in the particular commodities
concerned. In principle, licences to retail specified commodities
are only granted if the retailer handled the commodities before
the war *, but they must have been granted rather freely, however,
since in July 1941 it was considered necessary to withdraw supplies
of any rationed commodity from shops with fewer than 25 customers registered for that commodity. 2 This step was taken because
the number of shops with rationing registrations was found to be
greater than the number of retail food traders before the war,
and large numbers of these shops had only a few registrations.
" I t was clear that it had become the practice for retailers in one
kind of trade to branch out into another kind in order to get their
household supplies at wholesale terms." 8 Any retailer was entitled
to plead hardship as a result of the enforcement of this order and
have his case examined by the Food Control Committees. No
automatic transfers take place until this examination is completed. 4
Although licences to trade by retail have been required since
the beginning of the war for all the principal foods and to trade
by wholesale in those foods of which the Ministry of Food desired
to obtain complete control, it was not until August 1941 that a
really extensive licensing system was started for most foods at
all stages of distribution. At this time the Food (Restriction on
Dealings) Order was issued which prohibited, from a date to be
announced later, wholesale dealings in some sixty foods except
under licence. During the autumn of 1941 one food after another
was brought under the Order, until, by the end of December,
trading in virtually every food listed in the original Order and a
few more was subject to wholesale licences.
On 26 November catering establishments were required to
obtain licences for the purchase of some eighty foods, and at the
end of December an order came into force extending the list of
foods for which a retail licence must be obtained to cover all foods
coming under the order applying to catering establishments. By
the end of 1941, therefore, no food of any importance could be
dealt in at any stage of distribution except under licence.
1
2

8

Exceptions are made, however, when the consumers' interest requires it.
MINISTRY OP F O O D :

Bulletin

No. 96, 25 July 1941.

Ibid.
T h e Parliamentary Secretary t o the Ministry of Food stated in the House
of Commons on 30 September 1941 t h a t 13,343 shopkeepers in t h e United Kingdom could no longer get rationed supplies because they had no more t h a n 25
registered customers, b u t t h a t 7,991 others in the same category continued to
receive supplies on t h e ground of "hardship" if these supplies were c u t off.
4

CONTROL OF SUPPLIES

73

STANDARDISATION OF TRADE CUSTOMS

Enforcement of control over some foodstuffs necessitates the
standardisation of trade customs so that the forms in which any
particular food appears in the market will be less diverse. For
example, the variety of cuts of bacon is reduced and only the
standardised cuts are authorised to be sold; only two qualities of
magarine are permitted; flour extraction rates are specified; standard regulations are set forth regarding wrapping of food, prepacking, size of cans containing vegetables and fruits, meat content of sausages, etc. The co-operation of the trade in the enforcement of these orders is necessary, and trade associations can fulfil
important and useful functions in the governing of their respective
industries.
This standardisation has necessitated great changes in the
food industry, and the Ministry of Food has reorganised food
manufacturing and processing in accordance with the general
policy covering imports, production, processing and manufacturing. The reorganisation of the chocolate industry to increase
supplies of slab and low-priced chocolate, emphasis on standardised jam production instead of other methods of preserving fruit,
and co-ordination and standardisation of margarine production,
are all cases in point. 1
TRANSPORT AND STORAGE

To ensure uniform prices throughout the country and to prevent unnecessary movement of goods, the Ministry of Food must
have control over the transport of food. For many foods transport
costs to all parts of the country are equalised, the Ministry having
special financial arrangements with the railways. The Ministry
assumed in October 1941 2 complete authority over the transport
of all food. Either the movement of food and feeding stuffs can
be prohibited, or the Minister of Food can direct the route they
must follow, the time of despatch and the destination. Thus congestion of food at particular points can be prevented, timing of
shipments can be better controlled, and all unnecessary movement eliminated. The transport schemes for each industry are
drawn up with the assistance of the trades, and compulsion is used
as sparingly as possible. Directions have been issued by the Ministry regarding the transport of potatoes, and the movement of
1

See below, pp. 100-101, 95-96 and 90 respectively.
' S.R. & O. 1941, No. 1694.

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FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

potatoes between certain specified destinations has been prohibited
except by sea. Potatoes coming under the order and delivered to a
carrier for transport must be accompanied by a written statement
of their destination and the name and address of the consignee.
Beginning 29 June 1942 a scheme to economise transport of goods
from wholesalers to retailers will be put into effect. The country
has been divided into sections and each retailer will have to draw
his supplies only from the wholesalers in his section.
In every food division there are Assistant Divisional Food
Officers for Transport. These officers work in co-operation with
Port Food Movements Officers and the Food Movement Control
Section at the headquarters of the Ministry and are ready to assist
any trader in regard to the problem of moving his produce. Special
arrangements have been made to assist farmers in securing the
transport of their cattle to the collecting centres. If farmers indicate on the forms used to notify the Ministry of the animals
they are sending that transport is required, the district chairman
of auctioneers will arrange transport for them with the representative of the local hauliers. The determination of charges is left to
be settled by local bargaining. The scheme is designed to eliminate
overlapping and duplication of routes by hauliers with a consequent
waste of fuel.
Immediately after the outbreak of war the Ministry of Food
issued an order requiring that all deliveries into and out of cold
stores be subject to licence, and providing for the keeping of records
and for inspection of premises. Later orders gave the Ministry
complete control of the management of cold stores and of the
charges imposed. The Ministry keeps large supplies of food in
cold stores and warehouses throughout the country. The general
storage policy is governed by the need for decentralisation, and
stocks are therefore scattered as widely as is practicable.

APPLICATION OF CONTROL OVER SUPPLIES AND DISTRIBUTION

The important foods produced by the British farmer are cereals,
meat, milk, eggs, vegetables and fruits. Control of all of these
foods must start with the farmer, and machinery must be set up
for obtaining control over farm products when they leave the
farmer's hands. The primary manufactured and processed food
products in Great Britain are oils and fats (chiefly butter, margarine
and cooking fats), cheese, condensed milk, bacon and ham, meat
products, cereal products, sugar, jams and preserved fruits, canned
fruits and vegetables, and canned and processed fish. For these

CONTROL OF SUPPLIES

75

foods control must begin with the manufacturer or processor.
The only other home-produced food of importance is fresh fish,
and control over this product must start with the first landing of
fish.
Imported foods are controlled from the time they enter the
country. The raw materials for the production of many commodities, of which margarine and cooking fats are among the most
important, are imported by the Ministry of Food, and the manufacturers operate as its agents. Control of these products starts
with the importation of the raw material and extends through its
manufacture and distribution.
There are a variety of methods of inducing farmers to sell
their products to the agents of the Ministry of Food. Control
starts with the licensing of firsthand buyers and the prohibition
of any sale except to a licensed buyer. Sometimes subsidisation
of the price paid to the producer is used as an incentive, not only
to increase production, but to encourage farmers to sell their products to the agencies appointed by the Minister of Food. The
marketing of some products, for example wheat, milk and potatoes,
was regulated under pre-war marketing Acts, and the problem of
obtaining control over the supplies of these products was simplified
since machinery for drawing farmers' products into the desired
hands already existed.
In the following pages the important measures taken to apply
the general principles outlined above to the main groups of foodstuffs are described.
Cereals and Cereal Products
The marketing of wheat was regulated before the war under
the Wheat Act of 1932. Consequently, it could be fairly easily
brought under control. Furthermore, the greatest demand for
wheat comes from the flour mills, and when the Government took
over these mills it became the biggest buyer of wheat. The first
home grown wheat control order was issued in November 1939.
This order prohibited the sale of wheat except to flour millers or
other approved buyers, unless by special permission of the Ministry
of Food and under certain restrictions. Approved buyers were
permitted to buy only from growers registered under the Wheat
Act, except under licence. Later orders provided that all millable
wheat, except that used for seed, must be used for human food,
and specified the proportion of millable wheat that could be used
for purposes other than flour milling.
Immediately after the outbreak of war the Government issued

76

POOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

Orders 1 requisitioning all stocks of cereals2 and cereal products 8 in
the country, and all cargoes on arrival, prohibiting the operation
of all dealings in cereals, except under a licence of the Minister
of Food, and controlling and licensing flour mills.
The importation, purchase and disposal of all cereals is controlled by the Cereals Division of the Ministry of Food, and the
members of the trade act on its behalf. An agreement covering
the first year of war was made in June 1940 between the National
Federation of Corn Trade Associations and the Ministry of Food,
whereby the firms in the trade agreed to place their staff and offices
and the staff and offices of the Port Corn Trade Associations at
the disposal of the Ministry, in return for which the Ministry
agreed to pay the Federation for subdivision among members of
the trade a sum equivalent to 2s. 7J^d. per ton of all wheat and
other cereals imported into the United Kingdom, subject to a
maximum payment of £ l M million for the first year of war. 4
The country is divided into eight port areas, and a Port Area
Grain Committee was appointed by the Board of Trade for each
area. All persons other than millers were required shortly after
the outbreak of war to furnish details of stocks to the Port Area
Committees, to place their stocks (if they exceeded 50 tons) at
the disposal of the Port Area Committee in the area, and to deliver
these stocks on its order. 6
Under another order every miller is required to furnish details
of his business, including its address, output, capacity and facilities
for grain intake. Detailed records must be kept and all premises
must be open for inspection by agents of the Ministry. Each
miller must obtain a licence from the Ministry of Food, and this
licence may be granted subject to any conditions the Ministry
sees fit to impose, including provisions regarding the kinds and
quantities of cereals the miller may mill, the cereal products he
may produce, the management and use of any mill or any plant
or machinery at any mill, regulations as to any work or as to the
engagement of any worker and regarding deliveries into or out
of any mill. 6

» S.R. & O. 1939, Nos. 1035, 1037, 1038 and 1039.
2
Cereals include wheat, maize, barley, oats and rye, millet, canary seed,
dari, Kaffir corn, peas, lentils and beans (other than soya beans) and all pulse
and grain (other than rice).
8
Cereal product means any product produced by the milling of any cereal.
4
Statement of the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food in
Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, 20 June 1940, Vol. 362, col. 260.
6
See S.R. & O. 1939, No. 1035.
« See S.R. & O. 1939, No. 1037.

CONTROL OF SUPPLIES

77

Up to 23 March 1942 flour millers were allowed to produce
National Straight Run flour, National Wheatmeal flour1 and certain
proprietary self-raising flours, but were required to give priority to
the production of National Wheatmeal flour to meet all demands.
On 11 March the Minister of Food announced that no flour other
than National Wheatmeal flour and certain proprietary brown
flours could be manufactured after 23 March. Since stocks of white
flour had to be used up, millers were allowed to deliver white flour
if they delivered at the same time three times as much Wheatmeal
flour, and bakers were allowed to use up to 25 per cent, of white
flour in bread. The introduction of this change at a time when
summer was approaching made it unnecessary for the Minister
of Agriculture to alter the winter feedstuffs ration schedule.
Control orders have been applied to oats, dried peas, beans
and lentils, barley, rye and threshed peas, along lines similar to
those followed in the order for wheat. The use of rice otherwise
than as human food is prohibited except under licence of the
Minister of Food.
The manufacture of bread, biscuits, cereal breakfast foods and
oat products is controlled by licensing, and special regulations as
to the marketing of bread have been made. The sale of bread is
prohibited except in four specified shapes, and with certain minor
exceptions the sale of sliced banded or wrapped bread is forbidden.2
No person is permitted to manufacture any bread from dough
containing more than two pounds of fat (including oil) to each
280 pounds of flour. From 6 April no white bread will be sold except
under licence, and from 20 April the manufacture of food containing flour will be prohibited unless 75 per cent, of the flour contained
in it consists of flour of not less than 85 per cent, extraction. Retailers and wholesalers are required to obtain a licence to deal in
bread, biscuits, breakfast cereals, oat products and rice and other
cereal products.
Thus the manufacture and distribution of cereal products is
rigidly controlled by a system of licensing of producers and dealers.
The key to wheat control lies in the control of the flour mills.
Wheat is the most important of the cereals for human food. Oats
and rye are consumed by human beings to a lesser extent but are
primarily used for animal feeding stuffs, as is barley, although
1
An extraction rate of between 75 and 85 per cent, was prescribed for National
Straight Run flour and of 85 per cent, for National Wheatmeal flour. In November 1941 only 4.2 per cent, of the total quantity of wheat milled in the United
Kingdom was converted into National Wheatmeal flour.
2
The Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Pood has stated that
£1,000,000 annually is expected to be saved by the prohibition of the wrapping
of bread. Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, 8 October 1941, Vol. 374,
col. 997.

78

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

barley is used also in the brewing industry. Wheat offals are an
important feedstuff, the production and distribution of which are
controlled by the Ministry of Food.
Meat and Meat Products
Meat is imported by the Minister of Food, and early in September 1939 stocks of imported meat were requisitioned and dealers
required to obtain a licence. A Meat Importers' National Defence
Association was organised and began operations in December.
This association includes every meat importing firm in the country
and buys for its members, but acting on a fee basis, as an agent
of the Ministry of Food.
Control over home-produced meat supplies 1 was obtained by
taking over the slaughterhouses, but this was delayed until the
middle of January 1940, notwithstanding criticism in the press2
and Parliament. Meat policy and prices went through a confused
series of changes between the outbreak of war and the imposition
of full control. In January 1940 a series of orders established full
control over slaughtering, sales and wholesale and retail prices,
and created a co-ordinated scheme for the collection and distribution of livestock.
The slaughter of livestock for human consumption is prohibited
except under licence from the Ministry, and all livestock must be
sold to the Ministry or its agent. All stock must be registered with
the Ministry of Agriculture and all slaughtering accounted for.
When livestock is ready for sale the farmer must notify the Ministry of Food. The livestock is then brought to fixed marts for
grading, which is done on a live weight basis by a district chairman of auctioneers appointed by the Ministry. Slaughtering is
done at Government-controlled abattoirs at fixed rates. Commissions are paid to the auctioneers who run the collecting centres,
and the contract of the slaughterhouse contractors is based on a
per capita charge on the animals handled.
There is, of course, a certain amount of unauthorised slaughtering, but the extent of this is insignificant. The most far-reaching
change in the meat distributing structure has been the enforced
1
" M e a t " in the following discussion excludes rabbits, poultry, game, horseflesh and goat meat.
8
The Economist wrote on 14 October 1939 (p. 64): " A t the moment, trade
in fat livestock is continuing on normal lines within the limits of the maximum
prices laid down by the Ministry of Food. When prices a t auctions are bid up
to these levels animals are allotted on a basis of the purchaser's previous requirements, or sometimes by the toss of a penny. These mathods are not above criticism from the farmers, and it is hoped t h a t the Ministry of Food will soon be
able to enforce the full war scheme of State purchase through recognised agents."

CONTROL OF SUPPLIES

79

centralisation of slaughtering. Before the war, large numbers of
one-man slaughterhouses existed which made centralised control
very difficult, but the number of slaughterhouses has been reduced
by 95 per cent, since the Ministry took over the killing of fat
stock. 1 Much waste was thereby eliminated, since the full-time
operation of most slaughterhouses is now possible. There has been
considerable opposition from the farmers to the practice of buying
on a live weight basis, i.e. on the estimated killing out percentage
of the animal, but the administrative difficulties of keeping track
of each farmer's animals separately in order to pay for them according to their actual dead weight are too great to permit the adoption
of that system.
In November 1941 maximum prices of goat meat were established and the cuts and description of goat meat on sale by retail
were specified. At the same time provision was made in another
order for control of the sales and prices of horseflesh fcr human
consumption, wholesale dealings were made subject to licence,
and the manufacture and sale of meat products containing horse
flesh was prohibited. The sale of horseflesh for human consumption
on premises where other meat is sold for that purpose or where
horseflesh is sold not for human consumption is also prohibited.
The transport of meat to the wholesale depots was originally
carried out by the Wholesale Meat Transport Association. Imported meat was distributed from the ports and from the cold
stores by a pool of meat vehicles operated by the Wholesale Meat
Transport Association. Meat transport, however, has recently
been taken over by the Ministry of War Transport in order to
save fuel and vehicles. The country is divided into eight Wholesale Meat Supply Areas and in each area the principal meat wholesalers have combined into Wholesale Meat Supply Associations.
These associations have power to organise practically all activities
of the meat trade in their respective areas as agents of and under
the direction of the Ministry of Food. A commission based on a
percentage of the turnover is paid to the Meat Supply Associations. The allocation of meat from the Wholesale Meat Supply
Associations to the butcher is made through butchers' retail buying
committees who appoint their own executives as allocation committees. The latter buy meat from the Wholesale Meat Supply
Associations and allocate it to the butchers.
The Select Committee on National Expenditure 2 was critical
1
Before the institution of control there were 16,000 slaughterhouses, and a t
the time of writing only 779.
!
Fourth Report, 1939-40 Session, op. cit.

80

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

of the high cost of the Ministry of Food's meat distribution scheme l
and in its Fourth Report recommended that a study of distributive
costs of the meat and livestock control scheme as well as other
distribution schemes be made. After the publication of this Report
the Ministry of Food examined the scheme closely and made
several improvements which were published in a memorandum
appended to a later Report of the Committee. 2
A large percentage of the pigs in Great Britain are reared for
bacon, since porkers are now not so profitable. Pigs can be sold
only to authorised buyers, except under licence, and slaughtering
is prohibited except with the consent of an agent of the Ministry
of Food. An owner of pigs may obtain a licence to slaughter and
cure a maximum of two pigs a year for consumption in his own household if he has fed them on his premises for not less than two months.
He may not slaughter any pigs he is feeding for someone else.
The Pigs Marketing Scheme and the Bacon Marketing Scheme
have been virtually suspended under "modification and suspension"
orders, but the register of producers under the schemes is maintained. Since these schemes controlled the major part of the
domestic cured bacon and production of pork, they furnished a
basis for control by the Ministry of Food.
Before the war, imports of bacon were also controlled and
restricted, on the advice of the Bacon Reorganisation Commission,
to about 533,000 tons annually. About 72 per cent, of the total
supply was imported. Large quantities come now from Canada
and the United States to replace supplies from Denmark and
Holland. A Bacon Importers' National Defence Association has
been formed which is a combination of the pre-war importing firms
and which now imports bacon on behalf of the Ministry of Food.
The Ministry of Food took over the curing of bacon between
June and August 1940, but since August bacon curing has been
done by registered curers under licence from the Ministry who
operate in accordance with directions issued by the Minister.
Provision is made for inspection of factories, for the keeping of
records, and for the testing of quality by the Ministry of Food.
The conditions under which producers' licences are issued include
regulations regarding the efficiency of manufacture, the cuts and
kinds of bacon authorised to be produced, and the disposal of the
product. Detailed directions regarding methods of manufacture
are set forth. Area Bacon Distribution Officers have been appointed
to give directions on behalf of the Minister relating to storage,
transport and distribution or disposal of bacon.
1
2

Ibid., pp. 22-23.
Sixth Report, 1940-41 Session, p. 47.

CONTROL Oí SUPPLIES

81

Bacon and ham producers were brought under control in the
second month of the war, but canned meat producers were not
controlled until June 1941, when an order 1 was issued prohibiting,
except under licence, the manufacture and sale by wholesale of
canned meat products with certain specified exceptions. This
order also laid down certain quality standards for the canned
meat products it covered. Since September 1939, retailers dealing
in meat products have been required to obtain a licence. The
meat content of sausages is regulated, a minimum of 30 per cent.
and a maximum of 45 per cent, by weight being prescribed. Canned
meat imports are handled through the Association of Canned
Meat Importers—a firm composed of all firms importing canned
meat before the war. Since December 1941 canned meat has been
rationed, but the Ministry has avoided interfering with the existing channels of trade as far as practicable and all shops and butchers
and cooked meat dealers who dealt in canned meats before the
war are allocated rations.
Although price regulation of poultry and rabbits has existed
since November 1940 and January 1941, respectively, no control
over supplies or distribution was imposed until the latter part of
1941. In September the sale of rabbits by collectors (those who
receive rabbits from the first owner) or by wholesalers was prohibited except under and in accordance with the terms of a licence
from the Ministry of Food. Live rabbits, canned rabbits and
cooked rabbits sold as part of a meal are not included in the control.
In October 1941, wholesale dealing in live poultry (except for
breeding, laying or rearing) was made subject to licence. 2
The control over meat supplies and distribution is thorough
and complete; only its production by the farmer and its ultimate
use by the consumer are outside the sphere of the Ministry of
Food. Under control, by-products of slaughter are utilised more
fully than in the past. The production of dried blood for animal
feed and the utilisation of animal glands for pharmaceutical purposes have increased.
The total cost of administration, including the distribution of
imported meat, is about £32,000,000 a year. It was the policy of
the Ministry of Food in the beginning to distribute fresh and
frozen meat in approximately equal proportions to all areas, but
in order to lower the costs of distribution, smaller urban areas
near producing centres are now supplied entirely with fresh meat
1
S.R. & O. 1941, No. 808.
' Owners of less than 50 head of live poultry and members of registered
domestic rabbit clubs are exempt from the necessity of requiring a licence to
sell by wholesale.

82

FOOD CONTRO!, IN GREAT BRITAIN

when important economies can be made in this way. Supplies of
home-produced meat are not evenly distributed throughout the
year, and cold stores of frozen meat and canned corned beef are
used to offset these fluctuations and to ensure that the ration will
at all times be met. Canned meat is rationed separately under the
points scheme. 1
Milk and Milk Products
Before the war, control over milk supplies was centred in the
Milk Marketing Board, which was set up under the Milk Marketing Scheme of 1933. This Board is composed of 17 members, of
whom 12 are regional members elected by the producers in each
region; 3 are special members elected by the producers in general
meeting; and 2 are persons co-opted to the Board by the elected
members. Thus it is entirely a producers' board.
The Milk Marketing Scheme was originally designed to regulate
the flow of milk into the manufacturing and liquid markets and
was operated in the interests of the producers. In peace-time,
manufactured milk products are subject to competition from imports, while liquid milk, by its very nature, is protected from such
competition. As imported dairy products became cheaper during
the inter-war period, the price of milk for manufacturing fell and
farmers began to withdraw their milk from the manufacturing
market and put it in the liquid market. This threatened to upset
the price structure of the liquid market, and as a consequence
the Milk Marketing Scheme was enacted and the Milk Marketing
Board 2 established, under which the receipts of all milk sold in
Great Britain are pooled in each of eleven regions and divided
among the farmers on the basis of their production of milk, irrespective of the market in which their milk was actually sold. This
average return to the producer is called "the pool price". The
Milk Marketing Board's control is exercised through its ability
to fix the terms of the contract under which the producer is allowed
to sell. Producer-retailers are, of course, outside the scheme, but
they pay a levy to the Board on the basis of the milk they sell.
Producer-retailers deal with 17-25 per cent, cf total retail milk
supplies, the co-operative societies handling some 25 per cent.
and the large distributors and proprietary firms 50-55 per cent.
1

See below, p. 117. •
There are actually four Milk Marketing Boards in Great Britain—a board
for England and Wales, for Scotland, for Aberdeen and district, and for the
North of Scotland. The discussion here refers to England and Wales, but the
constitution, functions and wartime changes are substantially the same for all
the boards, although administration differs in many respects.
2

CONTROL OP SUPPLIES

83

Producer-retailers compose, however, about two-thirds of the
total number of retailers, although since the war there has been
a tendency for their numbers to fall.1
The Milk Marketing Board's powers to protect the producer
extended to the fixing of minimum prices in the retail market and
consequently of the distributor's margin. From 1 April 1940 the
price of milk has been under the control of the Ministry of Food,
but the Milk Marketing Board has been maintained. In September
1940 the Minister of Food conferred sweeping powers over the sale,
distribution and price of milk on the Board and empowered the
Board to terminate or vary any contract to which it is a party. 2
Consumers' interests are assumed to be adequately safeguarded
by virtue of the control exercised by the Ministry of Food over
the activities of the Board. 8
The price of milk has been raised several times since the outbreak of war, and although the higher price of milk is not due
primarily to distributors' margins, the cost of distribution has
been one of the chief targets for critics of the milk policy of the
Ministry of Food. The loss to the consumer as a result of unnecessary costs in the process of distribution has been commented
on by many committees, official commissions and private bodies
investigating the milk situation in Great Britain 4 , but no public
1
The Children's Nutrition Council suggests t h a t this fall may be as great
as 10,000 from the pre-war level of 70,000. Wartime Nutrition Bulletin, March
1941.
In connection with this tendency of the number of producer-retailers to fall,
see the statement of the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food (House
of Commons, 20 August 1940): "There has been a reduction of the number
of producer-retailers of milk during the last eighteen months of 1,736 (2.8 per
cent.) . . . due in the main to the sale of businesses, b u t . . . accounted for
to some extent by producer-retailers entering into contracts for the sale of milk
through the Milk Marketing Board instead of direct to consumers. The quantity
of milk sold by producer-retailers in July 1940 was over one million gallons more
than the quantity sold in July 1939."
»S.R. & O. 1940, No. 1716.
3
"Proper regard for the interests of consumers and distributors of milk in
connection with the powers which have recently been conferred upon the Milk
Marketing Board will be ensured by reason of the fact t h a t the powers will be
exercised under the general supervision of my Noble Friend, and subject to his
specific directions where necessary." Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry
of Food, in Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, 23 October 1940, Vol.
365, col. 1049.
4
See the following reports: Report of the Reorganisation Commission for Milk
(Grigg Commission). Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. Economic Series
No. 38. H.M.S.O., 1933.
Report of Reorganisation Commission for Great Britain (Cutforth Commission).
Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. Economic Series No. 44. H.M.S.O.,
1936.
Report of the Committee of Investigation for England on complaints made by
the Central Milk Distributive Committee and the Parliamentary Committee
of the Co-operative Congress as to the operation of the Milk Marketing Scheme
(Whitehead Committee). H.M.S.O., 1936.
Report by the Food Council to the President of the Board of Trade on Costs and
Profits on Retail Milk Distribution in Great Britain. H.M.S.O., 1937.

84

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

action has ever been taken to improve the organisation of milk
distribution. The widespread demand for improvement in distributive methods led the Minister of Food to appoint another
committee to examine the subject. The Ministry then resisted all
criticisms of milk distribution pending the submission of the committee's report. 1 This report 2 was submitted at the end of September
1940, and the conclusion reached was the same as that reached
by each of the other committees—that the existing system of milk
distribution was needlessly elaborate and wasteful.
The recommendations were, however, rejected by the Ministry
of Food on the ground that conditions had changed since its publication. 3 I t is the Ministry's policy in this as well as in other problems
of distribution to utilise as far as possible the "existing channels
of trade", and although producers have in some instances voluntarily reorganised distributive methods for the purpose of reducing
costs, Government intervention has been slow in coming. It is
self-evident that little would be gained if attempts to improve
distributive methods caused so much dislocation that the complicated system of distribution ceased to function. 4
The consensus of impartial observers is that some interference
would be desirable. The Select Committee on National Expenditure pointed out 6 that:
War conditions, when centralised control is necessary for public purposes,
create an unique opportunity for studying and improving the processes of marketing as well as wholesale and retail distribution. We have been greatly impressed
by the report . . . of the Committee appointed by the Minister of Food to
examine the Cost of Milk Distribution . . . We refer particularly to the proposal
for rationalisation of distribution by restricting milk deliveries in any district
to two organisations . . . and also to the proposal for fixing the margin allowed
for distributive services . . . "
1
" . . . M y Noble Friend . . . has no intention of instituting any changes
in present methods of milk distribution until he has considered fully the report,
just published, of the Committee which he appointed under the chairmanship
of Lord Perry to advise him on this matter." Parliamentary Secretary to the
Ministry of Food, Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, 5 November 1940,
Vol. 365, col. 1231.
2
Report of the Committee appointed by the Minister of Food to examine the
Cost of Milk Distribution (Perry Report). H.M.S.O., 1940. See below, Appendix
VII, for the conclusions of this report.
3
"Owing to the altered conditions obtaining since the date of the report of
the Committee over which Lord Perry presided, His Majesty's Government
have decided t h a t it is not possible for them to adopt the recommendations
made." Parliamentary Secretary to t h e Ministry of Food, in Parliamentary
Debates, House of Commons, 2 April 1941, Vol. 370, col. 1004.
4
Lord Rhondda once remarked, referring to the reorganisation of meat distribution in the last war, t h a t the problem was similar to t h a t of rebuilding a
bridge without interfering with the traffic. This simile is equally applicable
to all attempts to reorganise distribution.
6
Sixth Report, 1940-41 Session, op. cit., p. 11.

CONTROL OP SUPPLIES

85

The cost of milk distribution came to the fore during the last
war because "Only in the economies to be effected . . . in the
costs of collecting and distributing milk did there seem to be any
hope of reconciling the demands of producers for high prices and
of consumers for low ones". 1 In 1917 a committee was appointed
to examine and report on a variety of problems connected with
milk production and distribution. In 1918 it forwarded a resolution to the Ministry of Food recommending that the Ministry
take over direct control of the wholesale collection, utilisation
and distribution of milk.
In October 1918 orders were issued giving the Ministry of
Food unlimited power over the distribution of milk and providing
that all manufacturing and wholesale milk business should come
under the control of the Minister of Food and be worked on his
account. The control, begun in October, was never carried through
because the armistice intervened and the political situation thereupon changed. 2
The high cost of milk distribution is thus not a new problem
in Great Britain. However, distributors' costs have risen steadily
under the system of fixed retail prices established by the Milk
Marketing Board. Competition between distributors, no longer
allowed on a price basis, is only possible by increasing services
offered the consumer. More and better service means greater
costs of distribution. The committee on the cost of milk distribution appointed by the Minister of Food in 1940 considered that price
competition among retailers should be restored and for that reason
recommended that no retail, semi-retail or wholesale prescription
of prices besides the fixed margin should be adopted.
The Ministry has, however, extensively intervened to regulate
milk distribution. Since the middle of 1940 the delivery of milk
in the larger urban areas has been prohibited before 6.30 in the
morning. The effect of this restriction is to prevent large retailers
from making more than one delivery a day, thus saving transport
and fuel. Traders selling milk must hold a licence from the Ministry. Late in 1941 a Milk Movements Branch of the Milk Control
in the Ministry of Food was established. "The function of this
organisation is to redirect supplies in England and Wales as may
be necessary to secure economies in transport and to bring the
quantities of milk available in each area into line with changes in
demand resulting from wartime population movements, and the
Ministry's control of retail distribution." 3 The control of retail
1

2

Sir William BEVERIDGE: op. cit., 263.

Wholesale distribution of milk is, of course, controlled in this war through
the 8Milk Marketing Boards.
Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food, in Parliamentary Debates,
House of Commons, 14 October 1941, Vol. 374, col. 1252.

86

FOOD CONTRO!, IN GREAT BRITAIN

distribution referred to is the Scheme of Supply created in October
1941 which makes provisions for distribution in accordance with
certain priority classifications of the population. 1
In December an order was issued requiring all suppliers to
comply with directions issued by the Ministry of Food regarding
the acquisition and disposal of milk. Retailers, including producerretailers, were required to make returns stating (a) the quantity
of milk they had available for sale in the previous week, showing
as separate items the milk produced by them, the milk bought
under Milk Marketing Board Contracts, and milk purchased by
wholesale other than on Milk Marketing Board Contracts, and
(6) their anticipated requirements of milk. This order was designed
to locate local surpluses and enable directions to be given to transfer surpluses from one region to other regions where milk supplies
were short. Before this order came into operation, producerretailers in rural areas were allowed to sell their surpluses direct, and
consequently rural consumers near producers received more than
urban consumers. The new scheme will require these producers
to give up part of their surpluses to meet the needs of other areas.
There has been a considerable increase in milk consumption
since the war2 due partly to the enforced restriction of condensed
and dried milk supplies, of which over one-third of the total consumption was imported before the war, and partly to the cheap
milk scheme described below. It was met by diverting larger
quantities of milk from the manufacturing to the liquid market,
and during the winter of 1941 no milk was used for manufacturing.
The use of milk in the manufacture of some foods is prohibited,
and the manufacturers of still other foods are restricted to a specified percentage of their previous consumption.
The Ministry is also concerned with improving the quality of
milk and has worked out a scheme whereby periodical tests of milk
for sourness will be made and advisory visits paid by experts to
farms where the milk produced does not reach the required standard, in order to help farmers meet the Ministry's requirements.
Milk unsuitable for the liquid market might still be suitable for
manufacturing, but since all milk now goes into the liquid market
the total production must be up to standard. 8
In contrast with liquid milk, milk products were imported in
large quantities before the war and, as noted above, the price of
home-produced milk destined for the manufacturer was largely
determined by the competition of these imports. In spite of the
1
2
8

See below, pp. 121-127.
See above, pp. 56-57.
See report in Farmers Weekly, 31 October 1941, p. 19.

CONTROL OF SUPPLIES

87

fact that since the outbreak of war imported supplies of milk
products and the quantity of home-produced milk for manufacturing purposes have been reduced, control of these products
developed" very slowly. Although British owners of imported and
domestic stocks, both at home and abroad, of Cheddar and Cheshire cheeses were required on 30 December 1939 to give the Ministry of Food full details of these stocks, control over the manufacture
of cheese was not imposed until July 1940.' From 1 October 1940,
British and imported cheeses have been distributed by the Ministry
of Food. Before cheese was rationed allocations were made to
the Ministry's agents for distribution through the trade to retailers
and caterers and institutions buying from wholesalers, or at first
hand on a pro-rata basis in proportion to their sales or purchases
during each datum month of 1939, subject to adjustment for the
movement of population. Supplies could be obtained only against
permits granted by local Food Control Committees and only from
nominated suppliers who had to be suppliers from whom supplies
were customarily purchased in the datum year. 2 Since the introduction of rationing in May 1941 distribution has taken place against
the ration registrations.
The reduction in the imports of condensed and dried milk led
to an increase in the demand for liquid milk, which in turn further
reduced the supply of milk available to condensed and dried milk
manufacturers. In September 1939 maximum prices for condensed
milk were fixed and retailers dealing in condensed milk were
licensed. In June 1940 orders were issued restricting the monthly
deliveries of condensed milk and milk powder by manufacturers
and importers to 50 per cent, of the total milk solids content of
condensed milk or milk powder delivered in the corresponding
periods of 1938, and manufacturers of chocolate, confectionery
or ice cream, and other trade users except manufacturers of
bread 8 or infant or invalid food, were restricted during any specified
period in their use of condensed milk or milk powder to 50 per cent.
of the total milk solids content in any product manufactured by
them in the corresponding period of 1938.
In August, each trader was required to furnish condensed milk
at the request of retailers who purchased milk from him in the
"basic period"—! April 1939 to 31 March 1940. The amount of
1
This order (S.R. & O. 1940, No. 1367) did not control soft, curd, cream or
processed cheese. The manufacture of processed cheese was controlled in M a y
1941.
» MINISTRY OP FOOD: Press Notice, 7 August 1940, No. 471.
»
s
Bread was placed on the restricted list in September 1940, and the use of
cream in ice cream was prohibited, together with t h a t of milk, except under
licence, in November.

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FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

milk to be delivered to these retailers each month was set at onetwelfth of the percentage of the deliveries in the basic period which
the Ministry of Food specified.1 In October 1940 manufacturers
of condensed milk and milk powder were prohibited from operating
without a licence, and the milk content of full-cream unsweetened
condensed milk was specified. The use of milk and milk products is
prohibited in the manufacture of biscuits, bread 2 , buns, pastries,
cakes, rolls, scones and similar articles, ice cream, sweetmeats
and synthetic cream. The Minister of Food announced in the
winter of 1941 that no milk would be diverted to manufacturing
until the demand for liquid milk was satisfied. There is consequently
very little milk being used for manufacturing in Great Britain,
imports making up an overwhelming proportion of the supply
of cheese and condensed milk.
The full Canadian production of condensed milk available for
export is purchased by the Ministry of Food and large amounts
are obtained under the Lend-Lease arrangements from the United
States. Special provisions have been made for the distribution
of American condensed milk. This milk may be sold to retailers
only under a permit of authority issued by the Ministry of Food
or a Food Control Committee. Retailers and other dealers must
nominate in writing their primary supplier, and milk may be
obtained only from the supplier nominated. Traders may nominate
only one supplier and can change suppliers only with authorisation
of the Ministry of Food or a Food Control Committee. 3 Dairymen
must restrict their sales to registered non-priority consumers.
Retail trade in this condensed milk is conducted entirely by the
retail dairymen, subject to directions of the Ministry of
Food.
United States evaporated milk will be handled by the normal trade channels
accustomed to deal in condensed milk, except a t the point of sale to the consumer.
The decision t h a t it should be sold through the retail dairyman rather than the
retail grocer was taken solely to ensure t h a t it is distributed to non-priority consumers in direct association with liquid milk. There is no question of compensation for loss of turnover, as the whole of the supply of liquid milk available
1
S.R. & O. 1940, No. 1606. The specified percentage for September and
October was 75 per cent, for full-cream sweetened, 50 per cent, for full-cream
unsweetened and 50 per cent, for skimmed condensed milk. In November these
percentages were reduced to 50, 25 and 25; in December to 40, 25 and 20. In
January 1942 the specified percentages stood at 40, 25 and 20.
2
Bakers are now permitted to use skimmed milk powder which, although
below the standard for distribution to the consumer, is still perfectly good for
baking purposes.
3

S.R. & O. 1941, No. 1718.

CONTROL OP SUPPLIES

89

during the winter will continue to be handled by the wholesale and retail milk
distributors. 1

The distribution of milk is closely bound up with the scheme
of priority distribution described elsewhere in this book. It is
thoroughly controlled, but there is evidence that the use of existing
channels of trade results in a cost of distribution higher than is
necessary. Since milk is distributed to large sections of the population free or at a reduced price—the difference being borne by the
Ministry of Food—inefficient organisation of milk distribution is
a direct cost to the Government.
Oils and Fats
Oils and oilseeds are imported by the National Association of
Oil and Oilseed Brokers Ltd., who act as agents of the Ministry
of Food. The oil and seeds remain the property of the Ministry
through all stages of manufacture. The oilseeds are supplied to
crushing mills which produce crude oil and cake as agents of the
Ministry. The oil cake is transferred to the Animal Feedingstuff
Control and the crude oil is passed to the refineries. The bulk of
the refined oil is allocated to the margarine and cooking fat factories
and to the soap factories.
Animal oils and fats were brought under control immediately
after the outbreak of war. Imports and manufacturing were prohibited except under licence, stocks of imported lard were requisitioned, and price control established. In October 1939, stocks of
oilseeds, vegetable oils and marine oils were requisitioned and
manufacturers and dealers licensed. Orders requisitioning the
stocks and controlling the manufacture of margarine and cooking
fats were issued, but in November the control was abandoned,
except for imports, since the supply position was good and the
Minister of Food decided that control was unnecessary. 2
1
Statement of the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food, in
Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, 21 October 1941, Vol. 374, cols.
1619-20. This distribution of American unsweetened condensed milk was discontinued on 15 March 1942, when additional liquid milk was made available
for non-priority consumers.
2
" T h e control assumed early in September by the Ministry of Food over
the oil refining and crushing industry was designed to work on the 1918 model
in 1918 conditions of scarcity. I n fact, however, the ample stocks of whale oil
and the sufficient, if somewhat irregular, arrivals cf imported seeds and nuts
have made unnecessary the detailed control originally enforced. Consequently,
the pooling of margarine has been suspended and manufacturers will again be
a t liberty to market their branded goods. To diminish the complexity of the
present system of distribution and permit licences, supplies of oils and oilseeds
from the Ministry of Food will be made to the Edible Oil Association, which
will be responsible for redistribution to its members on the basis of their purchases last year. Prices remain under the direction of the Oils and Fats Controller." The Economist, 18 November 1939, p. 266.

90

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

After the decontrolling of manufacture, the Ministry of Food
still controlled the raw materials, but the conditions of manufacture, sale and distribution were determined by agreement between
the Ministry and the margarine manufacturers. In June 1940,
however, a new order was issued, again requiring manufacturers
to place their stocks at the disposal of the Ministry of Food and
prohibiting the manufacture or sale by wholesale of margarine,
except under licence. In accordance with an announcement in
June of the Margarine Manufacturers' Association, all manufacturers' supplies of margarine and compound cooking fats are pooled,
and the manufacturers operate under the single name of Marcom
Ltd. 1 This company is responsible for the expenses of the producers
composing it, and profits from the manufacture of margarine are
allocated among the different producers on a pre-war through-put
basis.
Only two brands of margarine are sold—a standard brand at
5d. a pound and a special brand at 9d. No longer does each firm
supply its brand all over the country, but each factory serves
the area near it, thus reducing costs of transport. Trade users 2
are prohibited from buying animal lard, cooking fats, dripping,
edible oils and margarine, except under the terms of a permit
from the Ministry of Food. A licence is required for the production,
manufacture or refining of lard and for wholesale dealing in lard.
The manufacture and distribution of animal fat is also controlled.
In 1941 lard producers were brought into the firm of Marcom
Ltd. The edible fat melting industry has been subjected to a concentration scheme designed to secure economy in transport, manpower and coal consumption. Nucleus firms were selected by the
Ministry of Food, and concentration was carried out in co-operation with the members of the industry.
Stocks of butter in cold stores were requisitioned in September
1939, and producers of butter in factories owned by the Milk
Marketing Boards or in factories approved by these Boards were
required to place their butter at the disposal of the Minister and
to deliver it to his order. The licensing of manufacturers was not
required until January 1940. Butter is the one important milk
product for which there is a good, cheap and home-produced substitute, and consequently the production of butter is not considered
very important, and the butter ration to the consumer is low.
The manufacture of margarine and cooking fats was not difficult
to bring under control since the producing units were few and could
1

In October 1941 there were 27 firms making margarine.
Any person using any of the specified oils and fats in the course of his
business in the manufacture, preparation or treatment of any article, other
than any of such specified oils and fats.
2

CONTROL OF SUPPLIES

91

combine easily, and all the raw material is imported. The firm of
Marcom Ltd. handles the entire trade in margarine, cooking fats
and lard. Quality requirements are prescribed for margarine and
the product is standardised. All margarine sold to the domestic
consumer contains vitamins equal to the vitamin A content of
butter and double the amount of vitamin D in butter.
Eggs
In June 1941 the Ministry of Food announced a scheme designed
to control the supplies and prices of eggs. Previous to this order
the history of the Ministry's efforts to control prices and influence
distribution was largely one of failure. Four things complicate
the problem of controlling egg supplies: (a) eggs are easily retailed
by the producer; (b) they are produced by a multitude of small
producers; (c) they are perishable and not easy to transport; and
(d) they are in extremely short supply.
In these circumstances, price control without control over
supply cannot be expected to work satisfactorily. The evasion
of price orders is easy and profitable, and an extensive "black
market" is inevitable. The Minister of Food does not appear to
have anticipated the results of the first egg controls. The progressive occupation of the continent by Germany cut off some
three-quarters of Great Britain's normal imports of eggs. The
reduction in imports of feeding stuffs and the low place in the
priority list allotted to feeding stuffs for poultry had caused producers to kill many of their birds (although not so many as might
have been expected from the reduction in feedstuffs), thus diminishing the supply of home-produced eggs. The total supply of eggs,
therefore, was drastically reduced in a very short time. In such
circumstances the mere fixing of retail prices simply aggravated
the difficulty. Costs of production were rising and producers found
it more profitable to retail their eggs privately in the surrounding
areas since there was little incentive under these conditions for
them to bring their eggs to market. Not only could they obtain
the retail price by selling eggs direct, but the short supply also
encouraged customers to come to the farm for them, thus saving
producers the trouble of marketing them. Consequently, eggs
virtually disappeared from the towns. As producers' prices approach
retail prices the wholesaler's margin is so diminished that he has
little interest in trying to obtain eggs. Furthermore, when the
retail price is controlled some buyers other than those buying for
their own consumption, for example caterers whose selling price
is not controlled, are in a position to offer the producer higher

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FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

prices than retailers whose selling price is controlled. 1 Obviously
if the retailer must pay the producer the maximum retail price
for his eggs he will have no margin on which to operate.
In the autumn and winter of 1940 the first food queues appeared
in the towns and these were for eggs.2 It was therefore necessary
in August again to raise the maximum retail price of eggs and to
introduce a wholesale maximum price. This was followed by a
new schedule of prices which allowed a higher price for "marked"
eggs—eggs which had been marked and graded at an authorised
packing station. By this device it was hoped to attract eggs to
the packing stations where the Ministry of Food could get control
of them and from which they could be distributed to the towns,
but it did not work very successfully and the egg supplies in the
towns grew progressively worse. As was inevitable in the circumstances, an extensive "black market" in eggs appeared.
The Ministry of Food was requested in Parliament and by the
press to ration eggs but held the view at that time that rationing
was "almost impossible". 3 The impossibility, however, of controlling prices and trying to influence distribution solely by the
manipulation of prices, in the presence of such an extreme shortage of a commodity over the supply of or demand for which the
Ministry had practically no control, eventually forced the Ministry
to take more comprehensive action. Eggs were considered essential
articles of diet by the people, if not by the Ministry of Food 4 , and
the public anger could not be ignored.
In June 1941, therefore, the Minister produced a scheme 6
designed to secure a measure of control over both supply and
demand. On the supply side, all producers, except poultry keepers
with 50 birds or less (at first this exemption was as low as 12
birds) are required to sell all their eggs, except those retained for
domestic consumption, to authorised packing stations or licensed
buyers, who collect for the packing stations. In order to eliminate
any incentive for producers to evade this requirement, prices higher
than the permitted retail prices are paid for eggs sold to the packing
1
Two orders were issued in March 1941 designed to prevent this practice.
Under these orders no person may sell or buy more t h a n 5 dozen eggs in any
one week a t a price exceeding the appropriate maximum wholesale price. S.R.
& O. 1941, Nos. 374 and 375.
s
The Economist, 30 November 1940, p. 665.
* " I t is not intended to introduce a scheme for the rationing of eggs . . . I t
is almost impossible from the point of view of distribution and also from the
point of view of supply." Statement of the Parliamentary Secretary to the
Ministry of Food, in Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, 19 June 1940,
Vol. 362, col. 158.
* See the report in the Bulletin of the Ministry of Food (No. 42), 12 July
1940, of one of the Ministry's Press Conferences. " . . . If prices soared farmers
would be encouraged to produce eggs, which are not essential from a nutrition
viewpoint, a t the expense of more vital foods."
6
S.R. & O. 1941, No. 888.

CONTROL OF SUPPLIES

93

stations or authorised buyers", the difference being covered by a
Government subsidy. The Ministry of Food through the agency
of the National Egg Distributing Association Ltd. buys all the
eggs from the packing station and distributes them to retailers.
On the demand side consumers are required to register with the
retailer, who in turn nominates a wholesaler or licensed packer as
his distributor and furnishes him with the number of his registered
customers. Supplies are allotted to retailers on the basis of consumers' registration. A complete schedule of maximum prices at
all stages is included in the scheme.
Producers with 50 birds or less were exempt from the scheme,
since "backyard" poultry producers could not easily be included.
After the adoption of this scheme egg supplies in the towns increased and regular allocations were made possible. Egg supplies
are extremely short, however, and allocations varied from seven
eggs per person in July to one in December. Imported and cooking
eggs are outside the control scheme. Eggs in the rural areas became
scarcer after the introduction of the scheme, and this led to many
complaints from these areas. Since the purpose of the scheme is
to draw eggs from the country to the cities, this is hardly an objection to it, although the rural population may not be able to obtain
the same variety of unrationed foods as the urban population, and
has not the same access to canteens and catering facilities.
Fruits and Vegetables
No effective control over the supplies of most home-grown
fresh vegetables and fruits has been obtained. This has not been
serious, except in the case of fruits and vegetables in short supply,
where price control has led to the disappearance of the product
from the market and its appearance only in expensive restaurants.
Of this class of vegetables, onions have caused the Ministry of
Food the most trouble. They are a good source of vitamins C and
B! and are widely eaten in sandwiches especially in rural areas.
In addition they are important in cooking as a flavouring agent to
make more palatable an otherwise dull diet. The demand for onions
is therefore great.
Before the war a considerable proportion of the total supplies
of onions was imported, primarily from the Netherlands, Egypt
and Spain. With these imports cut off, the scarcity of onions in
the United Kingdom was so great that evasion of price control
was common. The Ministry of Food finally realised that if the price
of onions was to be kept reasonable, and if distribution was to be
at all fair to consumers, control over the supplies of onions had to
be obtained. Accordingly, in July 1941 an order was issued which

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FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

prohibited the sale of onions by a grower, except to an authorised
agent of the Ministry of Food.
The policy of the Minister of Food as regards vegetables may
conveniently be divided into two parts, the first concerned with
potatoes, and the second with other vegetables. Fresh vegetables
are extremely difficult to control because of their great variety,
the highly seasonal character of their production, the perishability
of many of them, and the great variations in week-to-week supplies
that may occur because of comparatively small variations in
weather conditions. Furthermore, the distributive structure is very
complex. Potatoes occupy a place half way between cereals and
vegetables, and are, like cereals, a bulky and important staple
article of diet. Control over the production and distribution of
potatoes is rendered easier because the product is fairly uniform,
widely consumed, not highly perishable, and can be produced in
large quantities, so that extreme scarcity does not complicate distribution as it does with many other vegetables. Furthermore,
potatoes were the only vegetable the marketing of which was
regulated before the war under a Marketing Act. Potato prices
have been controlled since the beginning of the war; growers are
required to sell only to licensed buyers or through licensed auctioneers 1 , and all persons dealing with potatoes, with minor exceptions, are licensed and required to keep records, and their premises
and potatoes are subject to inspection by authorised persons.
The Ministry of Food has guaranteed the growers' price of potatoes
and has agreed to buy any surplus. In order to finance the handling
of surpluses, a potato fund maintained by a levy imposed on potato
dealers has been set up. The rates payable on the 1940 crop of
ware2 potatoes were: unlicensed potato merchants, 5s. per ton;
licensed grower-salesmen, 6s. per ton; licensed potato buyers,
7s. 6d. per ton. Rates are also fixed for holders of special licences.
The rate on all sales of seed and thirds is 2s. 6d. per ton. Certain
minor exceptions from the levy were provided for. 3
1
They may, however, sell to their employees for their own consumption, or
in lots of one cwt. and less to unlicensed buyers up to an aggregate of one ton.
2
Potatoes for human consumption, as distinct from seed potatoes.
3
S.R. & O. 1940, No. 1388, dated 31 July 1940. The following summary of
the operation of the potato fund for the 1939 crop was given in the House of
Commons on 1 August 1940: "Except to the extent of 5,2S0 tons, purchased out
of the Potato Fund for disposal to potato factories and owners of livestock, and
8,666 tons purchased for the British Expeditionary Force or sold to the French
Food Mission, the whole of the 1939 crop found its way into consumption through
ordinary market channels. The total amount of levy collected t o date is £257,389
9s. 3d. of which £223,710 1 Is. 8d. was collected from merchants and the remainder
from other licensees. After allowing for the cost of administration and the losses
sustained on the potato purchases, it is estimated t h a t a net amount of approximately £194,000 will stand to the credit of the Fund, as a t the 31st of July
1940. This balance will be carried forward in accordance with the provisions of
the Potato (1939) Crop (Charges) Order, 1940, to be applied, if necessary, towards the disposal of any surplus of this year's crop." Parliamentary Debates,
House of Commons, Vol. 363, col. 1428.

CONTROL OP SUPPLIES

95

These charges were substantially reduced for the 1941 ware
crop, being Is. per ton for a licensed grower-salesman, and 2s.
6d. for a licensed potato buyer.
Vegetables may be classified under two general headings—
perishable and non-perishable. In April 1941 a National Vegetable
Marketing Company, in which the Ministry of Food is the sole
shareholder, was formed to handle the marketing of vegetables.
It is concerned so far only with non-perishable vegetables and is the
sole buyer of onions and carrots with the exception of growerretailers, who may sell carrots by retail if they are licensed to sell
vegetables by retail, and who may sell bunched carrots other than
by retail. The only other vegetable of which the supply is controlled is tomatoes. A grower may sell his tomatoes, except under
licence, only to specified classes of buyers.
It is in the production of vegetables that the small gardener
and allotment holder can make his contribution to the nation's
food supply, and the Ministry of Food's policy encourages him in
every way. In 1940 a scheme for collecting surplus vegetables was
operated in some areas with the assistance of the County Federation
of Women's Institutes. In Scotland local Garden Produce Committees have been established to handle vegetable and fruit surpluses
of allotment holders. Allotment holders and gardeners are not
encouraged to produce surpluses because of the difficulty of collecting them, which involves much labour and transport. However,
the disposal of unavoidable commercial vegetable surpluses has
been facilitated by the appointment of Fruit and Vegetable Area
Intelligence Officers who report continuously on supplies coming
forward, so that arrangements can be made for their distribution.
To meet complaints that the Army was using canned vegetables
when local growers could not dispose of their crops, the Ministry
of Food has made arrangements to assist the Army in purchasing
fresh vegetables locally. The surplus produce from allotments is
put, so far as possible, into the ordinary channels of distribution.
Furthermore, occupiers of gardens or allotments not primarily
engaged in retail trade can sell by retail any fresh fruit and vegetables, honey, eggs, poultry and rabbits which they produce in
their gardens or allotments.
Sales by growers of only two home-grown fruits are controlled.
Home-grown plums may be sold only to licensed buyers, and
home-grown apples to specified classes of buyers. The sale of other
fruits, particularly soft fruits, direct to the public is not encouraged
and prices are fixed so that there is an incentive for the grower
to send his fruits to the jam manufacturers. In the order controlling home-grown plums there is a provision requiring growers

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FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

to sell first to licensed preservers who may require plums from
them for the purpose of manufacturing jam or fruit pulp for sale.
Canning of fruit is discouraged, and manufacturers are urged to
turn all fruit into jam rather than can it.
The manufacturers of jam, marmalade, fruit pulp, fruit juice, or
preserved fruit, are required to obtain a licence, and quality
standards are prescribed for the products. Preservation of vegetables and the manufacture of specified vegetable products are also
controlled, and various regulations are set out concerning the type,
size and content of the containers in which the vegetables are
preserved. The sale of fruit pulp is prohibited except to licensed
preservers, and quality standards for fruit pulp are prescribed.
In 1940 the Ministry made special arrangements to facilitate
the preserving and canning of fruit by housewives, and individuals
were allotted extra sugar for jam making, but the Ministry found
that the amount of jam bore no relation to the amount of sugar
applied for, and consequently in 1941 no sugar was released for
individuals to make jam from the soft fruit crop, although extra
sugar was released to housewives for the 1941 hard fruit crop.
A system of communal preserving centres was set up in 1940 by
the Ministry of Food and is operated under the auspices of the
National Federation of Women's Institutes in rural areas, and by
Garden Fruit Committees in urban areas.
In 1940, 2,600 rural centres preserved 1,792,000 pounds of
fruit. In 1941 there were 5,168 rural centres which preserved
2,271,522 pounds of fruit. 1 The preserving was done by voluntary
workers who are not allowed to retain any of the jam produced.
All the jam is of Fresh Fruit Standard, the highest grade of jam,
and contains 60 per cent, sugar and 40 per cent, fruit. "The amount
of canning accomplished has only been possible owing to the
generosity of American women who have sent, as a gift, 500 canning
machines which have been distributed throughout England and
Wales". 2 The co-operation of the gas and electric companies has
also contributed greatly to the success of the scheme. These
voluntary preserving centres use a great deal of fruit produced
in the rural areas which would otherwise be wasted. School children,
day schools and other children's groups are organised to pick
berries and take them to the preserving centres. The jam produced
by the Preserving Centres is sold in accordance with the rationing
order and is available only through the usual retail channels.
1
Details of output: 133,160 pounds of chutney; 72,694 bottles of fruit; 111,266
cans of fruit and tomatoes; 18,656 pounds of preserves such as fruit pulp and
syrup; 3,465,280 pounds of j a m and jelly.
2

MINISTRY OF F O O D : Bulletin,

No. 116, 12 December 1941.

CONTROL OF SUPPLIES

97

Special vouchers are issued to retailers to enable them to stock
jam from the centres in addition to their normal commercial
stocks.
The only fruit the increased production of which is urged on
growers is the black currant, since it is the most concentrated
source of vitamin C in popular use.
Early in September 1939 stocks of dried fruits were requisitioned
and pooled. A few months later, however, the pooling arrangement was discontinued, but the allocation of dried fruits remained
with the Ministry of Food. Dried fruits are allocated to dealers
in accordance with their sugar registrations, and a special Christmas
allocation was made in November 1941 of 12 ounces for each ration
book to all retailers who applied for it. Bakers are restricted to 50
per cent, of their pre-war usage. Since 26 January 1942 dried
fruits have been rationed in the points scheme.
Imports of all fresh and canned fruits were drastically reduced
in 1940, only oranges being allowed to come in in large quantities.
Imports of oranges were not controlled until some time after the
outbreak of war, but all oranges are now purchased by the Ministry of Food and allocated to dealers in accordance with the child
population of each district. Before oranges were reserved for
children the Ministry directed supplies to specified destinations
and arranged transport charges so that there was no profit incentive to send oranges to one place rather than to another. Distribution was on the basis of population, but normal channels of
trade had to be interfered with. Commission agents who in peacetime handled surpluses have been eliminated, and large organisations are prevented from buying direct from importers.
The Ministry of Food is the sole buyer of all imported canned
and bottled fruit and vegetables and imported fruit pulp. Panels
of brokers and primary buyers are formed through which purchases of these goods are distributed. Primary buyers to whom
canned fruits and vegetables are allocated are responsible for ensuring that the food passes smoothly through the existing channels
of trade. A new company has been created for the distribution
of canned beans, and includes all the pre-war manufacturers and
canners.
Fish
No food industry has presented the Ministry of Food with more
problems than the fishing industry. Control over the supplies of
fish has not, so far, been adopted, primarily because of the administrative obstacles involved. In the Report of the Food (Defence

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FOOD CONTRO!, IN GREAT BRITAIN

Plans) Department 1 , no mention was made of plans to control the
fishing industry. Preliminary plans were prepared for cereals,
flour and bread, meat and livestock, sugar, edible fats, tea, milk,
potatoes, canned goods, and animal feeding stuffs, but fish is not
included in the list of schemes of control. Nevertheless, when
war broke out, plans had been made for the decentralisation of
the distributive side of the fishing industry. These plans, made on
the assumption that there would be heavy air raids on the ports,
called for the setting up of inland centres for the distribution of
fish, with which merchants and buyers would be registered, and
for the closing of the great auction markets. This scheme was a
complete failure because it was inadequately planned 2 and brought
into operation without sufficient preparation, and because of problems associated with the sudden commandeering of trawlers by
the Admiralty. I t was abandoned after having been in operation
about a fortnight, and the auctions were reopened. All the control
that remained was the regulation of fishing boats and the power
to control prices.
The entire Scottish herring catch for 1940 was taken over by
the Ministry of Food. The greater part of the cured herrings was
exported to Germany and Poland before the war, and after the
loss of these markets the domestic curers were uncertain of their
market and were unwilling to cure herrings unless they were
assured that they would be able to sell them. The Ministry of
Food therefore agreed to take over the catch and pay the curers
for curing them. 3 In June 1940 orders were made requiring licences
for the sale or purchase of herrings on the first landing in Great
Britain and for curing them.
Since the failure of the attempt to control the industry in 1939,
the Ministry of Food has gone no further than price control orders
—except for the prohibition in March 1941 of the sale by wholesale
of all sea and fresh water fish, except herrings, without a licence.
1
2

Op. cit.

"This was the one major disaster t h a t the Ministry of Food met with in
the early days of the war. I t was partly due to inadequate planning and partly due
to bad luck. The inadequate planning can be p u t in this way : our Meat Scheme,
which has stood up to practical test, took a full three years to plan. T h a t means
t h a t in every market there were people actually selected and appointed to be
there as our representatives. All these slaughterhouse managers and so on had
been seen, appointed and given their instructions. In the case of the Fish Scheme,
it was not begun until a few months before the outbreak of war. As the Committee will understand, we had to take essential commodities in our preparations
in some kind of order; we could not do t h a t all a t once; a t the beginning, we
concentrated on the most essential items, and fish did not come in until a few
months before the outbreak of war." Minutes of Evidence taken before the Committee of Public Accounts, Report from the Committee of Public Accounts, Evidence
of Sir Henry L. French, Secretary to t h e Ministry of Food, 13 M a y 1941 (H.M.S.
O. 1941), p. 198.
s
See announcement in MINISTRY OP FOOD: Bulletin, No. 38, 14 June 1940.

CONTROL OF SUPPLIES

99

A complete system of price control was introduced in June 1941 x
and was intended to be the first of two stages in the adoption of
control of the fishing industry and to be succeeded by a complete
scheme of control over supplies and distribution.
However, the Ministry of Food is satisfied with the results of
price control, and "so long as the existing system of price control
continues to function satisfactorily, it is not proposed to introduce
the more drastic scheme of control for the industry". 2 A system
of allocating fish at the ports to the different buyers was introduced
with the maximum prices order, but the industry's statistics provide
no record of the movement of fish after it has been sold at the port.
"Statistics are now being collected and the whole question of
allocation is under close review at the present time." 3
In July 1941, the canning of any fish or the sale of any canned
fish was prohibited except under licence and subject to the directions of the Minister of Food. Canned fish is rationed under the
points scheme, and all home-canned herrings are now sent to the
Forces and are therefore not available for the home market.
With the co-operation of the Ministry of Food a new food industry has been created in Britain. The shortage of fresh smoked
haddock led to some experimental tests, carried out by arrangement with the Ministry, on Icelandic wet salted cod. When desalted and smoked by a carefully controlled process, smoked salted
cod is an attractive and palatable substitute for smoked fresh
haddock. The production and price of smoked salted cod are controlled by the Ministry of Food.
Sugar
Before the war Great Britain imported more than one half of
its supplies of sugar, most of which was refined in the country. In
addition, it produced an average of 43,000,000 cwt. of refined
sugar a year from 1935 to 1939, or almost 20 per cent, of the total
domestic supply of sugar in these years. 4 The British Sugar Corporation refines the entire domestic production of sugar, and one
firm dominates the refining of cane sugar in the country. Sugar
refining was therefore easy to control. In September 1939 stocks
1
See below, pp. 150-151.
* Statement of the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food, in
Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, 15 October 1941, Vol. 374, col. 1368.
8
Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food, in Parliamentary Debates,
House of Commons, 11 November 1941, Vol. 374, col. 2054.
4
Imported sugar is subject to customs duty and home grown sugar to an
excise tax. These figures are taken from the Report of the Commissioners of
Customs and Excise for tlw year ending 31 March, 1939 (H.M.S.O., 1939).

100

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

of sugar were requisitioned and dealings made subject to directions
of the Ministry of Food. In June 1940 sales by refiners, manufacturers or wholesalers were prohibited except under licence. Almost
40 per cent, of the total sugar supply goes into manufacturing in
peace-time, and the Ministry of Food has restricted the utilisation
of sugar for many manufacturing purposes. A scheme of allocations of sugar for manufacturing purposes has been drawn up by
the Ministry of Food, and supplies of sugar for domestic use have
already been restricted considerably below the country's normal
consumption.
Miscellaneous
In addition to the control exercised over the chief food products
consumed in the British Isles, the manufacture and distribution
of a variety of lesser products are controlled. Although tea is the
most important of the beverages controlled, beer, spirits, cocoa
and coffee have not been overlooked. Thus, the manufacture of
potable spirits from a mash of cereal grains, and the purchase of
cereals for steeping, and of malt, are prohibited except under
licence. Although the output of beer is permitted up to 100 per
cent, of the 1939 level, its specific gravity has been reduced by
15 per cent, to conserve malt. Brewers may still choose their own
methods of brewing. Raw cocoa beans held in the United Kingdom
may not be bought or sold without a licence, and retailers dealing
in cocoa and coffee must acquire a licence. Owners of more than
one ton of coffee are required to make returns to the Ministry
of Food. Coffee is imported solely by the Ministry of Food, and
the pre-war method of first-hand distribution by public auction
is superseded by direct allocation by the Ministry. Supplies are
allocated to registered dealers (dealers who paid duty before the
war on more than 50 tons of coffee) on the basis of their purchases
in a datum period.
The manufacture of cocoa, chocolate and sugar confectionery, of
pickles and sauces, of starch food powders, of glucose and invert
sugars, starch and dextrine, and of canned soup, is licensed and
controlled. The manufacture and sale of vitamins A, Bi, and C
are similarly controlled. The scheme for controlling chocolate and
sugar confectionery was worked out by the manufacturing firms
in conjunction with and subject to the approval of the Ministry
of Food through specially created associations of manufacturers
on the governing bodies of which sit representatives of the Ministry.
The associations have classified the various confectionery into

101

CONTROL OF SUPPLIES

"product groups", and maximum prices are prescribed for each
group. Each retailer must clearly mark on a wrapper or ticket
attached to his products the name of the product and the maker,
the price and the product group. The War Time Associations
supervise confectionery distribution and the distribution of the
raw materials to ensure that they are used "for the lower price
categories of confectionery rather than for non-essential luxuries". 1
The shortage of certain foods, particularly milk and eggs, gave
rise to a lucrative trade in the manufacture and distribution of
substitutes, many of which were misleadingly labelled, and some
of which were injurious. Accordingly, in October 1941 an order
was made requiring manufacturers of food substitutes to obtain
a licence and subsequent sellers to sell the substitute only in the
original container and under the label and description under which
it was sold by the manufacturer. 2 The Minister of Food announced
that in the granting of licences a "distinction would be drawn
between old established substitutes and new bogus articles. The
sale of the latter would be prohibited, but it was not intended to
discourage invention, and new products would be tested by the
Ministry." 3
By the end of October, 1,127 forms of application for licences
had been issued, but only 255 had been returned to the Ministry.
Of these 176 had been granted. In nearly every case it was necessary
to impose some condition as to the name of the product, the claims
made for it and the price. 4 No milk substitute had been licensed
except for bakers' use in improving the texture of bread.
DISTRIBUTION UNDER "EMERGENCY"

CONDITIONS

Special plans have been made and the ground work laid for
food distribution in the event of large scale disorganisation of "the
existing channels of trade" as a result of invasion or extremely
heavy air raids. Of necessity, exact details of these arrangements
must be kept secret, but the broad outlines have been published
by the Ministry of Food.
The Ministry had been instructed by the Prime Minister to
have all arrangements for the emergency distribution of food
ready by 1 September 1941. Elaborate plans have therefore been
1
MINISTRY OP F O O D : Bulletin, No. 76, 7 March 1941. Filled chocolates and
other luxury products have been almost entirely eliminated.
2
S.R. & O. 1941, No. 1606.
3

MINISTRY OF F O O D : Bulletin,

10 October 1941.

* Manufacturers of substitute foods need not list the ingredients on the outside of the packages. A requirement to this effect would probably be desirable
in the interest of consumers.

102

tfOOD

CONTROL IN ORE AT BRITAÎN

drawn up with the close collaboration of the Army authorities,
who decided what quantities of food would be needed in particular
areas and how long they would be needed. The plans assume a
widespread breakdown of communications, and the chief work of
the Ministry has been to add a big reserve to the existing wholesale and retail stocks of food, thus creating what the Minister of
Food described as a "shadow larder".
In the event of an invasion, shops in the invaded or threatened
districts will be closed and a rapid inventory of stocks taken so
that food officers may know exactly what food is available. Each
householder is expected to have one week's reserve. The reserves
in bulk belonging to the Ministry of Food are distributed in accordance with military advice.
The following is a summary of the main outline of the Ministry's
plans, taken from the Ministry of Food's Bulletin.1
The essential features of the plans to meet invasion and air attack are flexibility and decentralisation. Food stocks have to be dispersed. The man on the
spot has to be prepared to use his initiative.
The Ministry has operated since the outbreak of war through 18 Divisional
Food Officers, working in the defence regions, and having very considerable
powers of action without consulting Headquarters. In time of emergency when
communications between the Division and Headquarters might be interrupted,
each Divisional Food Officer is entitled to act on his own in his Division and, in
fact, will perform the functions of "Minister of Food" in relation to his Regional
Commissioner. The Divisional Food Offices have been grouped under 5 Chief
Divisional Food Officers for the purpose of liaison with t h e Military Commands.
Under the Divisional Food Officers are 1,500 Local Food Offices, and in rural
areas, where there is a possibility t h a t small communities may in the event of
invasion be isolated and cut off from communication with the nearest Food
Offices, voluntary Food Organisers have been appointed. These organisers would
in emergency take charge of food supplies in t h e village and distribute them
fairly until communications with the local Food Office could be restored.
Since the ports and the large centres of population are favourite targets of
the Luftwaffe, it has been necessary to remove food stocks from these places
so far as possible. The country has been divided into over 100 areas, each of
which now contains sufficient food stocks t o maintain its inhabitants for a
reasonable period. In London special measures have been taken owing to the
peculiar nature of the problem, b u t the general principle of subdivision has been
followed.
In addition to this localising of supplies, each Divisional Food Officer has a
mobile reserve of food under his direct control, which he can move to any part
of his division where the need is urgent.
Small stocks of specially packeted foods are being placed in many small
villages and towns under the control of the voluntary Food Organiser.
After heavy air raids in urban districts, there is often difficulty in re-establish1

No. 100, 22 August 1941.

CONTROt OP SUPPLIES

103

ing retail trading rapidly. Mutual Assistance Pacts 1 , under which one trader
goes to the assistance of his neighbour, have proved valuable b u t are often too
localised in their membership. There is a possibility t h a t all members of a Mutual
Assistance Pact might be put out of action together. Plans are therefore being
made in the more vulnerable towns for emergency shopping centres and mobile
shops.
. . . A reserve of weighing equipment, e.g. scales, weights, etc., is being
built up to meet possible shortages immediately after a raid.
The possibility of erecting mobile Food Offices to issue emergency ration
cards immediately after a raid to homeless people or those about to be evacuated
is being considered. In some areas these would be of great assistance in avoiding
the necessity for long journeys to a local Food Office.
The Ministry has in operation a comprehensive salvage organisation covering the whole country. Its object is to recover and recondition the maximum
possible amount of human or animal food t h a t has been damaged by air raids.
One of the main problems of the salvage officials is the drying of cereals, oil
seeds and oil cake t h a t have been affected by water through fires. The ideal
arrangement is to dehydrate these materials in a local drying plant, thereby
avoiding the transport of the water-soaked grain over long distances.
Various types of drying plants have been pressed into service, such as those
of the fish meal processors and the crop-driers. At certain times of the year, it
is also possible to use plant owned by the brewers, distillers and maltsters. The
possibility of using other drying plant employed in brick making, timber processing, etc., is still under investigation. The facilities already existing, however,
generally make it possible to handle any food t h a t may be wetted as a result
of an air raid.
The main weapon against gas attacks is a clear knowledge of its possibilities
and limitations. Between two and three thousand Local Government officials
have attended the Ministry's special courses of instruction a t which they learned
the methods of detecting poison gas, protecting food stuffs from its action, and
decontaminating the food after it had been in contact with the poison gas. These
local officials will co-operate with public analysts and other trained chemists
who are often available in the research laboratories of industrial firms.
Stocks of gas-resisting tarpaulins with which to protect food in transit are
being set up throughout the country.
The first line of defence after an air raid is the Queen's Messenger Food
Convoys with their attendant mobile canteens. These can be rushed to the
1
These Mutual Assistance Pacts have been worked out for many important
commodities. The following scheme has been devised for bacon and ham distribution under emergency conditions. Every wholesaler (or multiple shop or cooperative society) nominated by a retailer in an area other than the area in
which his warehouse or depot is situated, must accept the liability and responsibility of supplying, under all conditions, every retail shop which has nominated
him as a supplier. If necessary, the wholesalers, multiples or co-operatives must
either establish a depot or depots in areas other than the one in which their
warehouses or depots already are, so t h a t in an emergency every registered retailer may draw his supplies from a wholesale depot either in the same area
or an adjacent area, or make arrangements with a wholesaler in the same area
or in an area adjacent to that in which the retail shop is situated to supply bacon/
ham to such retail shops during the emergency. These wholesalers must be provided with a list of the customers concerned, and the amount of their buying
permits. The names and addresses of every depot which may be established
must at once be registered with the Area Bacon Distribution Officer for the
area in which the depot is situated.

104

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

raided town at short notice to provide hot soups, drinks, as well as solid food
within a few hours. Twenty-two convoys are now at action stations.
Supporting these are the Emergency Meals Centres, operating with solid
fuel cookers so as to be independent of gas and electricity. They are placed in
schools or other halls on the outskirts of the towns, and can produce soups,
stews, puddings and hot drinks in considerable volume. They carry reserves
of food, sufficient to keep them operating for several days until further supplies
can be brought up.
The emergency arrangements have been completed in larger provincial
towns with a population of over 50,000 and in smaller towns in vulnerable areas.
In greater London, in addition to similar arrangements, special provision of
mobile canteens has been made to deal with the possibility of large numbers
of people moving about.
The emergency feeding arrangements provide for 10 per cent, of the population, except in London where provision is made for 25 per cent.
The equipment set aside for the Emergency Feeding Centres includes 1
million spoons and 1 million half-pint mugs. The food reserves include 5 million
tins of various kinds of food, as well as biscuits, condensed milk, margarine,
rice, sugar and tea.
The basis of the emergency meals arrangements is being shifted from the
towns themselves to the outskirts. Cooking depots are being established well
outside the target areas so that meals can be sent in heat-retaining containers
to any point within a radius of about 15 miles. Preparations are made for 162
of these depots, and they form what has been aptly called a "Food Grid" system.
The idea of the "Food Grid" began in Sheffield, after a very severe attack,
in which many of the city's restaurants and cafés were destroyed . . . The
Community Feeding Officer for the North-Eastern Division . . . took over a
school about four miles out and had meals brought into the city by car.
The backbone of the emergency arrangements is the British Restaurant.
Eight hundred restaurants are now in operation and plans for 300 more have
been approved. Many of them can now be run on solid fuel, and independent of
the gas and electricity supplies.
In many towns, the Ministry has made, through the Local Authorities, arrangements for feeding in public air raid shelters. These, with the Rest Centres
run by Public Assistance Authorities under the Ministry of Health, form two
further lines of defence.
Should the above measures be insufficient, local authorities have been given
power to call upon caterers in their districts to provide meals on the maximum
possible scale. These powers will however be exercised only in the last resort.
T h e London C o u n t y Council has m a d e detailed a r r a n g e m e n t s
for emergency feeding t o be used if large-scale b o m b i n g is resumed.
T h e plans include t h e use of c a t e r i n g e s t a b l i s h m e n t s of all kinds
as well as i n d u s t r i a l canteens where practicable. T h e s e plans will
b e p u t into force only when t h e a u t h o r i t i e s consider t h e emergency
t o be really grave a n d only in those p a r t s of t h e capital where
d a m a g e t o buildings a n d t o gas, electricity, w a t e r a n d t r a n s p o r t
services makes emergency feeding essential. T h r e e h u n d r e d volu n t a r y officials will organise a meals service t o m e e t almost a n y
emergency.
S t a n d a r d m e n u s will be a r r a n g e d , a n d t h e public

CONTROL OF SUPPLIES

105

will be asked to take their own dishes and cutlery to these feeding
centres. If a district is badly bombed, but the conditions do not
warrant the operation of the emergency plans, local catering organisers will be able to call for supplies of hot stew in bulk from establishments with equipment and facilities for preparation on a large
scale. 1

1

The Times, 30 October 1941.

CHAPTER IV
RATIONING AND PRIORITY DISTRIBUTION

The introduction or extension of rationing in wartime is
not necessarily an indication of weakness in a nation's economic
system or of diminishing resources. Total war requires the mobilisation of the largest possible quantity of the nation's resources in the
national effort, and therefore, unless the rations are so low as to
impair the health or morale of the people, extensive rationing may
be an indication of a well organised and well controlled and consequently a stronger and more effective economy than would have
existed in the absence of rationing. There is little doubt, for example,
that the food situation in Great Britain would have been immeasurably better in the closing years of the last war if food control and
rationing had been introduced much earlier than they were.
In any specified period of time the total supply of goods and
services is limited, and the most effective war organisation will be
that organisation in which the largest amount of goods and services
is used for purposes contributing to the war effort. When consumption of any commodity is greater than is necessary for the
wellbeing of consumers, rationing can be used to reduce this consumption and release transport and productive factors for more
necessary goods. Thus rationing may be a technique for organising
the resources at the disposal of a country in the most efficient
manner to achieve a given end. The control exercised over demand
facilitates the enforcement of maximum price orders and, if sufficiently extensive, acts as a check to general inflation, although for
this purpose specific rationing is not easy to administer and, since
it is not likely to cover enough commodities to be sufficiently effective, should be supplemented by a drastic reduction of general
purchasing power.
One purpose of rationing is control over demand and the other
is equitable distribution of supplies. When it is considered necessary
to reduce supplies of any commodity to release shipping, labour, or
other factors for more essential work, or when supplies are cut off

RATIONING AND PRIORITY DISTRIBUTION

107

by force majeure, the resultant inequities of distribution may produce great psychological unrest and impair both the ability and
the will of a people to fight a war. Rationing can be used to ensure
fair distribution and thus may be a technique for maintaining the
efficiency and morale of the people.
Rationing is necessary for the equitable distribution of commodities in short supply, partly because of inequalities of income
and partly because of inequalities of shopping opportunity between
different consumers. A given price for a given commodity does not
mean the same to a rich as to a poor person. The poor man, having
less money, makes a greater sacrifice than the rich man when he
spends part of it, since each dollar or shilling is more important
to him. He will therefore go without what he wants or needs sooner
than the rich man when the price rises. If supplies are extremely
short the rich man can afford to bid very high for them and thus
push the price far beyond the poor man's reach. 1 Nor is the mere
imposition of maximum prices under these conditions practicable
because the pressure of effective demand on supplies is too great a
temptation to evasion.
I t has been argued, therefore, that equalisation of incomes
would do away with the necessity of rationing because there would
then be no rich to bid up prices and all consumers would start
from an equal level. Since absolute equality of total income is
not politically attainable under present conditions, it has been
suggested that consumers' income available for the purchase of
"necessities" be equalised by the rationing of purchasing power.2
This could be accomplished by making "value coupons" available
to everyone in equal quantities and selling necessities only against
these coupons.
Such a scheme would be useful to restrict purchasing power
generally for commodities the supply of which is not extremely
short, to facilitate the transfer of factors of production from the
consumers' goods industries to war industries, and to assist in the
enforcement of maximum prices. I t would not, however, eliminate
the necessity and desirability of rationing of those goods in very
short supply and in great demand. In the first place, even with
1
High-income consumers have another advantage over low-income consumers
in t h a t they frequently have better storage facilities (refrigerator, rat-proof
pantries, abundant cupboards, etc.) and can therefore buy perishable food and
other stocks before they are ready to consume them.
a
See J. J. POLAK: "Rationing of Purchasing Power to Restrict Consumption", in Economica, August 1941, pp. 223-238, and articles by M. KALECKI in
the Bulletin of the Oxford Institute of Statistics. Mr. Polak argues t h a t his
scheme would do away entirely with the need for commodity rationing, while
Mr. Kalecki admits that some degree of specific rationing would be desirable
under his scheme. Mr. Kalecki's scheme does not completely equalise purchasing power as between rich and poor, while Mr. Polak's does.

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FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

equal incomes not all people are in an equal position to obtain
supplies. Some people are able to shop earlier and more frequently
than others. Working women especially are unable to obtain their
share in a competitive market. Consequently, extremely scarce
foods for which the demand is inelastic would have to be sold at
an excessively high price in relation to the total allowable purchasing power if the "first-come-first-served" method of distribution were not to lead to the first comers being the only ones served.
Moreover, since no commodity is infinitely divisible, it is quite
conceivable that when only one or two units of a commodity in
great demand, e.g. eggs, could be allotted to each person in a
relatively long period the effort to adjust supply and demand by
price movements would fail unless the price of each unit were set
at an extraordinarily high level.
The chief advantage claimed for a free price method of distribution is the increase in "satisfaction" resulting from free choice
and from the fact that those who most want any commodity will
be the ones to obtain it. 1 There are objections even in normal times
to the theory that maximum "satisfaction" resulting from freedom
of choice must in all cases take precedence over maximum physical
wellbeing from an objective point of view, but in wartime the
objections gain even greater force. It is well known that individuals
frequently do not want what they should want and nowhere is
this more important than in food consumption. In wartime, the
efficiency of the war effort is affected by the physical efficiency of
the people. When the variety and amount of food available is
diminished, malnutrition is likely to result more quickly from a
wrong selection of food. While it is agreed that people should not
be forced to eat what they do not want, there are strong arguments
in favour of adopting any distribution mechanism that will influence
people to make a more balanced and nutritionally sound choice of
foods. Rationing, by making available a minimum amount of the
more important foods to everyone, is more likely to influence
people to buy these foods than would a "free choice" system of
distribution. 2 In the latter case, moreover, those with the best
developed knowledge of food values and the most enlightened
food habits would demand more of the nutritionally important
foods and would have the least elastic demands for them. It would,
therefore, be more difficult for others to obtain these foods, and
1
" I t is obvious t h a t rationing involves a loss, since it deprives consumers
of free choice." J. J. POLAK: lot. cit., p. 225.
2
" . . . In fact some do not want the milk, b u t it is a funny thing that, if
you give a ration, you can depend upon it t h a t people will take it." Parliamentary
Secretary to the Ministry of Food, in Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons,
30 April 1941, Vol. 371, col. 468.

RATIONING AND PRIORITY DISTRIBUTION

109

since their demand is less "informed" they would go without more
easily. Consequently, this system would have an effect opposite to
that of rationing on the food consumption habits of the population.
We must, therefore, conclude that rationing is not only desirable
to offset the effect of inequality of income and of shopping opportunity but also because of its effects on the food habits of the people.
In addition, the control exercised over demand makes easier the
enforcement of maximum price orders and the transfer of resources
from consumer's goods industries to war industries.
The supply of any food may become short because the Government wants to reduce it; because other adverse conditions, e.g.
weather, interfere; or because a mistake in forecasting temporarily
upsets the plans made for that food. Thus the chief reason for the
extreme shortage of cheese, eggs and some vegetables in the middle
of 1940 in Great Britain was the failure of the Government's food
policy to allow for the swift conquest of the continent by Nazi
Germany. On the other hand, the Government may want to reduce
consumption in order to build up stocks or to make the most
efficient use of the transport facilities and productive factors in
the war effort. Thus tea and sugar were rationed early in 1940
in order to reduce consumption and conserve stocks. 1 Eggs, meat
and butter are short because the Government wishes to reduce
to a minimum imports of feeding stuffs and food and because the
longer time taken in transport as a result of enemy action reduces
the supplies that can be transported in any given time. On the
other hand, it is the Government's policy to keep in abundant
supply potatoes, carrots, some other vegetables and bread.
Wheat is the most important of the cereals and bread is the
most important of the manufactured products. A supply of bread
sufficient to meet all demands at a reasonable price is a basic part
of British food policy. The production of flour for human consumption takes precedence over all competing uses of wheat, and in an
economy where most other foods are in short supply bread is
abundant and cheap. It is abundant because wheat supplies in
oversea countries are large and the British Government has arranged
for the importation of enough wheat from these countries to meet
all demands for human consumption in Great Britain. It is cheap
because its price is subsidLsed. When other foods become scarcer
and more expensive, while bread remains cheap and plentiful, the
consumption of bread tends to increase. During the war of 19141918 weekly per capita consumption of wheat and diluents as flour,
1
"I want to build up in this country every possible ounce of food as an
emergency supply. We ration tea in order t h a t we may still further increase
our stocks." Lord WOOLTON in a broadcast, 8 July 1940, quoted in MINISTRY
OP FOOD: Bulletin, 12 July 1940.

110

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

as estimated by Sir William Beveridge, rose from 4.25 lbs. in 1914
to 4.80 lbs. in 1918.1 In these circumstances the quality of the
bread is of first importance.
In July 1940 the Ministry of Food announced its intention to
"fortify" flour for bread with vitamin B! and calcium salts, but by
the end of 1941 only about 25 per cent, of the white bread and
flour consumed in the United Kingdom was being fortified with
vitamin Bi and its distribution was restricted to a few areas. The
Ministry says that the chief obstacles in the way of the universal
adoption of fortified flour are technical difficulties hindering the
large-scale production of the vitamin and the necessity of using up
large stocks of white flour already stored throughout the country,
which it would not be practicable to treat. To overcome the first
difficulty the Ministry has arranged for extension of plant and the
creation of new factories for the production of Bp The proposal
to add calcium salts was still not accepted by January 1942—a
year and a half after the first announcement.
A National Wheat Meal loaf has been introduced that contains
85 per cent, of the wheat berry instead of the usual 72 per cent. 2
The contents and nutritive standards of National Wheat Meal
are standardised to specifications worked out in conjunction
with the scientific advisers of the Ministry. This loaf was not at
first compulsory and was not very popular, since only about 7J^
per cent, of the total consumption of bread consisted of wheat
meal. Even in the forces it made up only about 25 per cent, of the
bread used. All the bread consumed in prisons, however, was
wheat meal and the Minister of Health recommended its use in
hospitals. The Ministry of Food spent £29,000 on advertising
National Wheat Meal up to December 1941 in an attempt to increase its popularity. The small demand up to this time was not
due to any defect in the quality of the bread, which was high, but
to a conventional prejudice against "brown bread" widely held
by the British people.
Since 23 March 1942, however, flour millers have been permitted
to manufacture only the National Wheat Meal flour and certain
proprietary brown flours; and once existing stocks of white flour
have been used up only bread made from these high extraction
flours will be obtainable. 8
The lengthened extraction means that more flour is obtainable
from a given amount of wheat, since more of the wheat is used in
1

Sir William BEVERIDGE: op. cit., p. 362, table X X I .
This was the minimum extraction rate for wartime white flour. The prewar minimum was 75 per cent.
• Cf. p. 77 above.
2

RATIONING AND PRIORITY DISTRIBUTION

111

flour and less is left as wheat offals available for animal feedstuffs.
A considerable saving in shipping space can thus be made since
wheat is the major food imported into the United Kingdom. The
reduction in the supply of feedstuffs may affect the production of
eggs and dairy products but it is difficult to see how this could be
avoided.
T H E DEVELOPMENT OP RATIONING

At the present moment in Great Britain a wide variety of
official and unofficial rationing procedures have been adopted for
scarce foods. The Government allocates to each person a fixed
quantity of margarine and butter, cooking fats, bacon, sugar, tea,
cheese and preserves. Meat is rationed by value; and canned food
is rationed by the points system. Consumers are required to register for eggs, onions and milk, and supplies are distributed to retailers on the basis of these registrations. Retailers are supposed
to supply registered consumers without discrimination or in accordance with whatever priority directions have been given by the
Ministry of Food. Once in a while a special allocation of unrationed
foods is made against the registration for rationed foods; for
example, two ounces of block suet were allocated against the fat
registrations just before Christmas to assist housewives in preparing
their Christmas puddings.
In addition to the official rations many shops, in particular the
co-operative stores, ration their customers informally for many of
the officially non-rationed foods. Thus, for example, co-operative
customers were rationed for dried fruits, cereals and biscuits long
before these were officially rationed. The co-operative societies
have been in the vanguard of those urging early and widespread
rationing of all scarce foods1, and they pressed for the preserves
ration long before it was adopted.
1
" . . . Co-operative officials saw the dangers which would arise from delay
in rationing commodities in short supply, and the Committee pressed the Government to adopt its comprehensive recommendations as early as the first week
following the outbreak of war. Retailers were required to distribute controlled
supplies according to an unreal datum line rendered useless by evacuation and
other changes in population when, at the same time, the consumer was free to
hoard what he could get.
" . . . For a long time the Government was content to ration a very limited
range of foods, although supplies of others were fast becoming scarce and were
most unfairly distributed. The Committee made representations to the Ministry
of Food as early as September 1940, urging a compulsory Order to meet the
situation. Societies in reception areas so far failed to obtain their fair share of
biscuits, jam, chocolate, eggs, cheese, dried fruit and other commodities, t h a t
there was a real danger of having to close their membership lists. Undoubtedly,
the constant expression of co-operative opinion on the urgency of more extensive
and equitable rationing has a t last led to its application to preserves, cheese,
and eggs." CO-OPERATIVE UNION LTD.: Wartime Work of the Co-operative Union
(1941), p. 28.

112

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

Although the supplies of some national foods to catering establishments are rationed in accordance with the number of meals
they .serve, their customers need not give up coupons for meals.
This is part of the general food policy of the Ministry of Food and
has aroused considerable controversy in Great Britain. The Ministry of Food contends that communal feeding is the least wasteful
method of utilising food supplies and that it should therefore be
extended and encouraged. 1 Since, furthermore, many restaurants
serve a particular type of clientele, food supplies can be diverted
to those restaurants serving the people to whom the supplies are
desired to go, e.g. to workers' restaurants. 2 It is also true, however,
that expensive restaurants charging high prices for their meals
can afford to buy at high prices all the unregulated commodities
for their customers. This type of catering establishment is one of
the greatest offenders in the black market.
The rationing of food in Great Britain is based upon the Rationing Order of December 1939.8 This order is in five parts covering
general restrictions, rationing of households, rationing of establishments, ration documents and miscellaneous provisions. Under this
original order, bacon, butter, meat and sugar were designated as
rationed foods and provisions made for rationing them. The order
did not, however, set the day on which rationing was to begin,
since the "appointed day" for the coming into force of the order
in relation to any food is set by the Minister of Food in a separate
order. The Food Control Committees are empowered to deration
temporarily any food in the hands of persons within their areas if
the food is perishable and liable otherwise to spoil.
I t is provided that rationed food for household consumption
may be supplied only against ration coupons which must be detached and kept by the retailer. 4 The household consumption of any
trader may be supplied by him but only under the rationing
restrictions. Home producers may supply their own needs outside
of the restrictions.
Catering establishments and institutions are required to register
with retailers or other dealers in order to obtain rationed foods,
and to present official order permits for the foods. In this order
provision was made for customers of a catering establishment and
1

See below, pp. 128-142, for a further discussion of this point.
The Minister of Food has not acted entirely in accordance with his statement of 25 February 1941, when he said t h a t his powers as Minister of Food
had been given to him to protect food supplies, not to achieve social justice.
(Press conference reported in MINISTRY OF FOOD: Bulletin, 28 February 1941,
No. 75.)
' S. R. & O. 1939, No. 1856, dated 27 December 1939.
4
Under later orders, cancellation of the coupons was allowed.
2

RATIONING AND PRIORITY DISTRIBUTION

113

persons in institutions to give up coupons for meat or bacon as
part of their meals and for other rationed foods if they reside in
the catering establishment or institution for any period. Similar
provisions were applied to residential establishments, but rationed
food for these establishments can only be obtained by means of
the ration books of the persons residing therein.
Persons who supply their own requirements of butter are prohibited from obtaining more butter on their ration coupons and
must detach and retain the relevant coupons and present them
to a Food Control Committee when so required.
Food Control Committees are empowered to issue instructions
limiting the number of persons who may be registered with any
retailer and limiting the number or class of establishments which
may register with any retailer or other dealer; transferring a registered person or establishment from one retailer or dealer to another;
and requiring any retailer to accept or reject any particular person
or class of persons or establishments or class of establishments as
a customer.
Rationing from the time of this order has been provided for
by applying the terms of the order to different foods and amending
it accordingly. Under an order dated 8 March 1940, the provision
in the original rationing order requiring coupons to be given up
for meals including meat and bacon was revoked, and these foods
are now allowed to be served as part of a meal free of the ration,
but no catering establishment may serve rationed foods except as
part of a meal or sandwich. For all rationed commodities, except
tea, the consumer must register, but he may register with only
one retailer for each rationed food and must register with the
same retailer for his butter and margarine rations, and similarly
for his sugar and preserves rations. Tea, sugar and cheese may
be obtained for any week during a four-week period in any week
in that period. Other rationed foods, except meat, may be obtained
during the week following the week for which the coupons are
issued.
There are at present eleven different kinds of ration books in
the United Kingdom. 1 We are here concerned only with the general
and child's ration book, since all the others are issued either for
emergency purposes or to seamen or to His Majesty's forces, and
are of little concern to the whole community.
The Rationing Order came into force for butter, bacon and
sugar on 8 January 1940, for meat on 11 March 1940, for tea on
9 July 1940, for margarine and cooking fats on 22 July 1940, for
1

See Appendix IV, table IX.

114

POOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

cheese on 5 May 1941, for preserves on 10 June 1941, for certain
canned goods on 1 December 1941, and for dried fruits and certain
cereal products on 26 January, 1942. *
Bacon
Bacon is of particular importance to the British people, and
bacon production is therefore favoured over pork production in
the Government's agricultural policy. It was among the first of
the foods to be rationed. Bacon and ham together were at first
rationed at 4 oz. per person per week, but it was soon found that
at prevailing prices large numbers of people were unable to consume
their full rations and stocks arriving from overseas began to accumulate in distributive channels. From 17 January 1940 certain
types of bacon and ham were freed from the ration and from 25
January the ration was doubled and prices were lowered, but even
at the lower prices many could not buy their entire rations. Bacon
stocks were reduced, however, and the spread of the war to Denmark and Holland limited imported supplies so that from 10 June
1940 the bacon ration was reduced to 4 oz., where it has remained.
The amount of the ration does not always indicate the amount of
bacon and ham of all kinds available to consumers because of
changes in the definition of the ration which are not insignificant.
Butter, Margarine and Cooking Fats
Butter was rationed long before margarine and cooking fats,
primarily because the supplies of the latter were adequate while
butter was becoming increasingly scarce. Rationing of butter was
started at 4 oz. per person per week. From 25 March to 3 June
this was raised to 8 oz. The increase was primarily due to the fact
that even before the war many of the people in the United Kingdom
did not consume 4 oz. of butter a week and the price rise from an
average of Is. 4j^d. per lb. for fresh butter on 1 September 1939
to Is. 7d. on 1 March 1940 brought even more people into this
category. From 3 June to 21 July the ration was again reduced
and on 22 July butter and margarine were rationed jointly. The
proportion of butter in the ration and the size of the ration have
fluctuated with changes in the conditions of supply. An increase
in the rations of both margarine and cooking fats was announced
for the winter of 1941-42, the additional fats allowing an increase
in calorie consumption during the colder months, but as a result
of the increased shipping difficulties due to the outbreak of war in
1
See Appendix IV for tables showing the development of rationing for each
rationed food.

RATIONING AND PRIORITY DISTRIBUTION

115

the Far East it was not possible to maintain the increase and it
was abandoned on 12 January 1942.
The use of butter and margarine in catering establishments is
limited to a specified amount per person per meal served. The
amount of butter in the total butter-margarine ration is restricted
in the same way as it is in the householders' ration. Vitamins A
and D are added to margarine to bring it up to the vitamin content
of butter, and since January 1942 the vitamin D content of margarine has been doubled, making it twice as valuable in this vitamin
as butter. When first rationed, cooking fat was defined as animal
lard or compound lard, but was later redefined to include any
shortening, confectionery or other fat suitable for human food or
for use in the preparation, manufacture or treatment of human
food, made wholly or partly from one or more vegetable or animal
oils or fats (including fish or marine animal oils or fats). I t does
not include butter, vegetarian butters, margarine, suet, dripping,
the products known as hard butters or any cooking oil.
Sugar
Rationing of sugar to the consumer began in January 1940 at
12 oz. per person per week. I t was reduced to 8 oz. in May,
partly because of the poor West Indian crop, and sugar supplies
for manufacturing purposes were also cut. The ration was raised
for the Christmas season of 1940 and in the summer of 1941 to
facilitate the domestic preserving of fruit. An increase for the
winter of 1941-42 was allowed from 17 November but had to be
abandoned in January 1942 as a result of the Far Eastern war.
Meat
One of the most severe reductions in the food consumption of
the higher income groups has been that of meat. Unfortunately, this
has coincided with a shortage of other high-quality animal proteins.
The Minister of Agriculture stated in July 1941 that the war is
causing a shift in the British diet from animal to vegetable sources
of protein, although the shift is less than was expected. 1 This
change is not a beneficial one from the standpoint of nutrition.
Meat has been rationed since 11 March 1940. It is rationed by
value instead of by weight because of the great differences in quality,
bone content, fat content, etc., of different cuts of meat, which
differences in the prices of the various cuts reflect to some extent.
Rationing by value is the only way to take account of these differ1

Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, 24 July 1941, Vol. 373, col. 1083.

116

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

enees. The weekly ration was originally set at Is. lOd. and included
beef, veal, lamb, mutton and pork. Offals were unrationed. Pork
was soon derationed because supplies were ample. In September
1940 canned corned beef was included in the ration 1 to meet
deficiencies in the supply of fresh meat in areas where the war
caused dislocation in distribution or storage. The meat ration
has been varied in accordance with the state of supply and its content
changed. Since 29 December one-seventh of the meat ration has
consisted of corned beef.
Manufactured meat, rabbits, poultry and game are not included in the meat ration, and since the middle of June 1941 offals
have been off the ration. There is therefore some choice of meat
outside the ration but much of it is at a relatively high price. It
was stated in December 1940 that the meat ration was not entirely
taken up 2 , but at this time it stood at its highest point (2s. 2d.),
with pork and offals excluded. Sausages, which contain a maximum
of 45 per cent, meat, are a popular substitute for meat.
Tea
Although tea is of no importance nutritionally, it is of tremendous importance to the Briton's psychological wellbeing. It
is most frequently consumed with milk and sugar, and many
adults, and even children, drink milk only in their tea. Tea has
been rationed since 9 July 1940 at 2 oz. except for the one week
ending 22 December 1940, when it was raised to 4 oz. The cut
to 2 oz. per person per week involved a reduction of some 25 per
cent, in the pre-war average consumption.
Cheese
The next food to be rationed was cheese. In the latter part of
1940 and the beginning of 1941 cheese was becoming progressively
more scarce, and there was considerable agitation in the country
for rationing, which was resisted by the Minister of Food on the
ground that cheese was too scarce to ration. The Minister requested
the general public to reduce their consumption voluntarily in
order to save supplies for those who needed them 3 but did not introduce rationing until 3 May 1941, after 20 months of war. At
1

The value of corned beef allowed was, however, limited.
See statement of the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food,
in Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, 17 December 1940, Vol. 367, col.
1098.
* See statement of Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food, in
Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, 22 January 1941, Vol. 368, col. 198.
s

RATIONING AND PRIORITY DISTRIBUTION

117

this time cheese was extremely scarce and the ration was 1 oz.
per week per person, 8 oz. being allowed for vegetarians, agricultural workers and underground miners. By 30 June 1941
supplies had improved and the ration was raised to 2 oz. and in
August to 3 oz.
Preserves
Informal rationing of preserves on a "minimum share" principle
was experimented with before statutory rationing was introduced.
In March 1941, consumers were required to register for their share
of jam, marmalade, syrup and treacle, and a minimum share of
8 oz. per person per month was announced of these four foods
together. After the first two months of the scheme retailers were
allowed to distribute any surplus among the registered customers.
The scheme was administered by the trade, and the ration was not
a statutory one. The "sweets spread" scheme was abandoned in
favour of the full rationing procedure in June, at which time the
ration was half a pound of jam, marmalade, syrup and treacle.
In July this was raised to one pound, where it has remained. Mincemeat was included in the ration in October. Under this scheme
stocks of jam fell relatively to those of syrup, and consequently
in December 1941 it was found necessary to allocate more syrup
and less jam against the ration.
Points

Rationing

A technique of food rationing never used before in Great
Britain came into operation on 1 December 1941 for some 25
kinds of canned food. It is called the "points rationing scheme",
and its purpose is to make available a fair share to all consumers
of a number of foods which could not easily be rationed separately,
not only because of differences in taste on the demand side, but
also because of the tremendous administrative machinery and
additional red tape that would be required. To each consumer
was issued a supplementary ration book which contained three
types of coupons, each worth a specified number of points, making
a total of 16 points for four weeks. Each rationed food was declared
to be "worth" a specified number of points per pound, and consumers are allowed freedom to choose the foods on which they
will "spend" their points. 1
1
See Appendix IV for foods rationed and the points required for each per
pound.

118

tfOOD

CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

The importance of distributing Lend-Lease supplies from the
United States as equitably as possible was one of the primary
reasons for the introduction of the scheme. I t was originally designed to come into operation on 17 November 1941, but the task
of distributing 80 million pounds of food to some 250,000 retailers
took longer than had been anticipated. Most of the supplies covered
are imported from the United States, British Dominions and South
America.
When the scheme came into operation, consumers rushed to
the shops and some spent all their points on the first day. Some
areas reported rapid reduction of stocks and impending shortage
of foods popular in the area. The sale of the foods included in the
rationing order had been prohibited since 29 October in order to
facilitate the building of stocks, but this also resulted in a considerable "backlog" of demand.
The Minister of Food stated that if there was a heavy run on
any one food its points value would be raised, while the points
value of foods selling slowly might be lowered. The first points
rationing period ended on 15 December 1941, and for the second
period it was found necessary to increase the points value of salmon
from 16 to 24 points a pound and to reduce United States canned
pork sausage meat and pork sausage bulk from 16 to 8 points a
pound. 1 Canned pork sausage meat is a new product in the British
market and demand for it was slow, while canned salmon is extremely popular. This adjustment of price to equate supply and
demand does not, however, prevent the first shoppers from having
a wider choice than the later ones. The foods included in the
original ration are closely related, and there was therefore a high
degree of substitutability between them. Many of the foods
were not well known to the British public, and in some areas the
conservatism of the housewife showed itself in the avoidance of
exotically labelled foods of a brand with which she was unfamiliar.
The press gave considerable space to explaining the contents of
the cans labelled "Spam" 2 , "Mor" 3 , "Pork Sausage" that was not
sausage 4 , etc.
The sale of canned fruit, tomatoes and peas was prohibited
from 12 January 1942 in preparation for the inclusion of these
goods in the points rationing scheme, and in February they were
formally rationed. From 26 January dried fruits, sago, tapioca,
1
From 9 March 1942 another extensive readjustment of the points value of
different foods had to be made. The points value of salmon, sardines and certain
meat products was increased and that of canned and dried beans and dried fruits
was lowered (see table viri, Appendix IV).
2
Spiced, sugared ham.
• Minced pork shoulder.
4
Pork with jelly and fat.

RATIONING AND PRIORITY DISTRIBUTION

119

whole rice, dried peas, dried beans and lentils were included in the
ration.
DIFFERENTIAL RATIONING

So far we have discussed only the general ration allowed for
the various foods. There are, however, some groups in the population which receive special treatment in the rationing programme.
These include children, invalids and persons suffering from particular diseases, vegetarians, and certain classes of workers. Children
get the same ration as adults for all foods except meat, the meat
ration for children being half that of adults. Diabetics get extra
rations of butter-margarine and meat but must give up their sugar
coupons, and if they are vegetarians they also get extra rations of
cheese but must give up their meat and bacon coupons for it.
Persons suffering from hypoglycaemia obtain extra sugar; those
suffering from kidney diseases with gross oedema and gross albuminuria extra meat ; and those suffering from steatorrhoea extra
meat, for which they must give up their butter-margarine coupons.
Those suffering from certain other diseases have priority for milk
and eggs.1 Vegetarians obtain extra rations of cheese but must
give .up their meat and bacon coupons. A special ration of 12 oz.
per week of cheese is given to agricultural workers, underground
miners, county roadmen, forestry workers, land drainage and
catchment board workers, members of the Women's Land Army,
certain types of agricultural industry workers, certain types of
railwaymen, canal navigation maintenance men, charcoal burners,
and scale repairers.
The British rationing policy, unlike that of Germany, has rested
primarily on the principle of equal rations for all rather than
special rations for different groups. 2 The classes of workers enumerated above receive extra cheese rations primarily because canteen
facilities for providing them with a substantial noon meal are
inadequate or cannot be provided owing to the nature of their
work.. Cheese is therefore granted them since it is a first-class
protein consumed without additional preparation. The Ministry
of Food emphasised that it is this aspect of their work rather than
the degree of "heavy labour" involved that is the reason for the
extra ration.
1
See below, p . 128.
* "Certain foods are rationed, and it is the considered policy to allow the
maximum possible ration to all rather than differential rations to particular
categories. I am satisfied t h a t the diet t h a t can be obtained under existing conditions is adequate . . . no scientific investigation has been made in regard to
iron rations by the Ministry, b u t plenty of information is available." Statement
of the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food, in Parliamentary Debates,
House of Commons, 7 May 1941, Vol. 371, col. 850.

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FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

The policy is in accord with the advice 1 and desire of the General
Council of the Trades Union Congress, which is represented on a
Food Advisory Committee to the Ministry of Food :
One of the most ticklish of food problems came to the fore in January, when
there was a reduction in the meat ration, and a diminution in the supply of
cheese and eggs. A number of unions then made claims, on quite good grounds,
for supplementing rations for workers engaged in heavy industries or for long
hours.
Now the Food Advisory Committee had to bear in mind that, apart from
t h e difficulty in differentiating between " h e a v y " and "light" work, supplementary
rations on a large scale could only be provided a t t h e expense of t h e domestic
ration, already a t a low level. In these circumstances both the Committee and
the Ministry were agreed t h a t it would be a mistake to depart from a recent decision of our General Council, which was all against the idea of trying to distinguish
between different classes of workers for rationing purposes.
T h e Committee will, however, consider claims for extra supplies of a particular
foodstuff for defined clashes of workers, and the Ministry has in fact been advised
t h a t the claims of certain sections of railwaymen (for tea), miners and agricultural
workers (for cheese) should be met . . .
I t should be made clear t h a t the concession granted to miners and agricultural
workers has nothing to do with the nature of their work; it is due to the fact
t h a t they are the principal classes in respect of whom it is impracticable to
provide canteen facilities. 2

As is suggested in this statement, the chief reason for not
adopting differential rations for workers according to the character
of their work is the difficulty of classifying workers into heavy and
light workers. This clearly cannot be done on a trade or industrial
basis since most trades • and industries include many classes of
workers. Once the principle of granting extra rations to heavy
workers was adopted it would be difficult to see where it would
end, and the process of drawing the line between heavy and light
work would create much resentment in those groups excluded
from receiving extra rations. Instead of differential individual
rationing, communal feeding centres and canteens are used to
direct extra food to workers who need it because of the nature
of their work. 8 Extra allowances of tea, sugar and margarine
were granted during the harvest season to farmers to enable them
to furnish "tea" to workers in the fields. Permits for extra tea
are granted to employers and occupiers of business premises so
that they can serve tea to groups of fire watchers on duty.
1
" T h e question of supplementary rations for particular classes of workers is
a highly contentious one, on which I have sought and accepted the advice of t h e
T.U.C." Lord Wooi/roN, Minister of Food, in a letter to The Times, 7 July
1941.
2
Sir Walter C I T R I N E : The T.U.C, in Wartime, May 1941, pp. 15 and 16.
• See below, pp. 140-141.

RATIONING AND PRIORITY DISTRIBUTION

121

PRIORITY DISTRIBUTION: M I L K

The primary aim of the Government's milk policy is to increase as far as possible the consumption of liquid milk, especially
by those who need it most. Milk is' a commodity of particular
importance in the diet of children and nursing and pregnant
women. The Ministry of Food, acting on the principle that these
groups in the population should be able to obtain cheap milk, and
in order to prevent any diminution in the milk consumption of
this group on account of rising prices, introduced one of the most
important social measures developed in Great Britain since the
outbreak of war. A National Milk Scheme was adopted on 1 July
1940 (the first deliveries began on 21 July), under which one pint
of liquid milk at 2d. a pint is supplied daily to each child under
five and each nursing or pregnant mother applying under the
scheme. The milk is supplied free if the income of the parents
falls below 40s. per week, this minimum being raised 6s. per week
for each non-earning dependant. An equivalent amount of dried
milk is supplied for children under one year if medical certificates
are given showing that liquid milk is unsatisfactory. The milk
powder is full-cream powder with a standard fat content of 26 to
27 per cent. The entire cost of the scheme is borne by the Government.
In adopting this scheme the Government accepts in principle
responsibility for the nutritional condition of the mothers and
children of the nation and subsidises their milk consumption irrespective of income. The subsidy is greatest for those whose income is
below a minimum level and for whom milk is supplied free. The
Children's Nutrition Council comments that " . . . the Ministry
of Food, by adopting one national income scale, has given the
public the first official indication of the standard of wealth below
which the Government considers a family to be in need of help
if it is to be adequately fed". 1 If malnutrition and undernourishment are to be prevented, some form of subsidisation of the products consumed by low income groups is necessary in the absence
of family allowances or other means of guaranteeing the regular
receipt of a minimum money income. This is recognised by the
Ministry of Food in its "free and cheap milk" scheme.
The scheme was received with widespread approval, and by
18 July 25 per cent, of those entitled to apply under it had done
so. By the end of July 1940, 1,787,844 permits had been issued—
1

CHILDREN'S NUTRITION COUNCIL :

September 1940, p. 6.

Wartime Nutrition Bulletin, No. 6,

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FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

25 per cent, for free milk and 75 per cent, for milk at 2d. a pint. 1
At the end of November 1941, 3,121,839 mothers and children—
about 80 per cent, of those entitled to milk—were receiving milk
under the scheme; 27 per cent, of these were taking free milk.2
The annual cost is estimated at some £13,500,000.
Milk in Schools
The most serious criticism of the free milk scheme is the failure
to require that the milk delivered under it shall be pasteurised
milk if possible. While it is undoubtedly true that in a few areas'
pasteurised milk could not easily be provided, there are many
areas where no difficulty exists, and in these areas it should be
made compulsory for producers or distributors operating under
the scheme to deliver pasteurised milk. In any event local authorities should be allowed to require that the milk shall be pasteurised
if they so desire. The opposition of producers seems to be the
chief difficulty in the way of compulsory pasteurisation of milk
under the scheme.
In addition to this program, milk is supplied below cost to
children in schools under the pre-war milk-in-schools scheme,
which provides for the distribution of milk in one-third-pint
bottles at a cost of Is. 2d. per month to the child. Necessitous
children receive milk free. Until October 1941, the definition of a
"necessitous child" in England and Wales 4 was a child showing
symptoms of malnutrition. Since malnutrition can do great damage
to a child's development long before positive symptoms of malnutrition are apparent, this definition prevented many children
from receiving milk who needed it badly. This unfortunate situation has now been remedied, and the Board of Education stated in
a circular 5 to local education authorities of 21 October 1941 that
"Since the aim . . . is to maintain a high standard of nutrition
and to prevent malnutrition, rather than to remedy it after symp1

3

MINISTRY OF F O O D : Bulletin, No. 44, 26 July 1940.

Idem, No. 118, 26 December 1941.
' T h e Milk Diversion Order (see p. 86) of t h e Ministry of Food, under
which surplus milk from rural areas is taken to urban areas, eliminates some of
this difficulty since pasteurisation can easily be done in t h e urban areas.
4
T h e Scots have been behind the English in this respect. "Scots law presently
permits food to be provided for necessitous children only when the individual
child is unable, by reason of lack of food, to take full advantage of t h e education provided." However, t h e Secretary of State for Scotland added to this
statement: " B u t malnutrition should be prevented, and a short Bill, designed
to give education authorities power to supply food free of charge to necessitous
cases without waiting for evidence of malnutrition, will be introduced in t h e
near future". A Bill has been prepared for this purpose. Parliamentary Debates,
House of Commons, 21 October 1941, Vol. 374, col. 1616.
»No. 1567.

RATIONING AND PRIORITY DISTRIBUTION

123

torns have appeared, Authorities may in the future base their
provision of free milk and free or part-payment meals solely on
evidence of financial need". This is an important advance, but
since the "evidence of financial need" is determined by local
authorities on the basis of the "parents' resources in relation to
income scales appropriate to the local circumstances" there is
considerable variation between different localities. The Ministry
of Food has adopted a national income minimum for its distribution of free milk under the free and cheap milk scheme, and it
would probably be desirable that the Board of Education should
also adopt a minimum in the administration of the milk-in-schools
scheme. The provision of milk in schools has been hampered by
lack of equipment, shortage of labour, and in some areas by lack
of co-operation on the part of distributors. Shortages of onethird-pint bottles and of straws have sometimes prevented children
from receiving milk, since distribution in bulk presents many
difficulties in the provision and washing of cups and adds an extra
burden to the work of the teachers. In many schools there are no
facilities for heating water to wash equipment, and if water is
available it sometimes is difficult to get labour, since children must
not be allowed to handle boiling water. Some farmers have refused
to supply milk to schools in their area because it was not profitable,
and many retailers object to supplying milk in one-third-pint
bottles. The distributive margin was increased early in 1941 to
cover the financial objections of producers and distributors to
providing school milk. Every effort is made to supply the milk in
one-third-pint bottles, but when this cannot be done pint or quart
bottles are used if possible, and the Board has issued special instructions to local authorities concerning the distribution of milk received
in bulk. Any extra expense will be met by a grant from the Board.
The Milk Supply Scheme ensures priority milk to the schools,
and the Board of Education has repeatedly emphasised in its
circulars to the local education authorities the importance of
extending the milk programme in the schools:
The scheme must now be regarded . . . as an essential part of the national
arrangements for distributing milk to children, and an obligation rests on every
grant-aided school to enable its pupils to participate in the scheme and also to
persuade each pupil to do so . . . No school . . . should rest satisfied until it
has persuaded practically every pupil to join the scheme.1
. . . It is of the highest importance . . . that every school should now
arrange for its pupils to drink milk at school.'

In spite of the difficulties confronting the extension of this
1

Circular No. 1565, 25 September 1941.
» Circular No. 1564, 25 September 1941.

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FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

scheme in wartime, much progress has been made. By May 1941
approximately 2,700,000 children were receiving milk under the
scheme in public elementary schools in England and Wales—an
increase of some 600,000 children over March 1940. If children
in schools other than public elementary schools are included, more
than three and one-half million are receiving milk. 1 By December
1941 about 60 per cent, of the pupils attending grant-aided 2 schools
were taking milk. In some areas this percentage is as high as 70
to 90 per cent. In other areas, therefore, the percentage of children
taking milk is considerably below 60 per cent. The increase in the
Board of Education's grant for school milk to 100 per cent, of the
cost to local authorities from 1 October 1941 removes all financial
obstacles to the provision of free milk to necessitous children,
and every effort is made by the Board and by the Ministry of Food
to assist any locality in overcoming its difficulties. Necessitous
children may receive two-thirds of a pint a day, and by January
1942 over 164,000 of these children were getting two-thirds of a
pint. The one-third of a pint allowed for other children is insufficient, but under present conditions there is little likelihood of increasing it and if all children attending schools are given this
quantity it will be a great advance over previous conditions.
Under the priority milk scheme described below, each child under
six is assured one pint a day and this, together with the third of a
pint allowed in the schools, though below the optimum, is reasonably adequate.
General Scheme of Supply
The milk policy of the Ministry of Food must make allowance
for seasonal variations in supply. During the summer of 1941 the
Ministry arranged for a reduction in milk consumption of approximately 15 per cent., and the milk thus withdrawn from the liquid
market was diverted into manufactured products for winter consumption when the supply of liquid milk is reduced. Dairymen
were asked to reduce their deliveries to each household by oneseventh of the amount delivered in March 1941. 3 The national
priority classes—hospitals, nursing and maternity homes, invalids,
1
Statement of the Parlimentary Secretary to the Board of Education in the
House of Commons, 2 October 1941.
s
Schools recognised for a grant by the Board of Education. The Milk in
Schools Scheme applies to public elementary schools, grant-aided secondary
schools, pupils under 18 a t any other grant-aided full-time schools, centres or
courses, elementary schools recognised by the Board as efficient, junior instruction centres, the Duke of York's School, Dover, elementary schools under the
War Office, residential Poor Law schools, and pupils under 16 a t occupation
centres for mentally defective children.
* Retailers were requested not to make this reduction by means of milkless
days because of the consequent hardship on families without refrigeration.

RATIONING AND PRIORITY DISTRIBUTION

125

people suffering from certain diseases 1 and mothers and children
benefiting under the free and cheap milk scheme—were exempt from
the restriction. At least 40 per cent.of the total milk supply goes to
these groups. It was immediately pointed out that this scheme
was most unfair to those who could afford only small amounts of
milk before the scheme was adopted, since a one-seventh reduction
in their consumption was much more serious than the same reduction in the consumption of those who were taking more than they
needed previously. Consequently, to prevent such hardship, the
Ministry of Food issued instructions that no reduction should be
made if the household took one pint or less a day. This concession
reduced the amount of milk expected to be saved under the scheme.
The increasing consumption of milk, accompanied by a decreasing supply during the winter months 2 , finally made it necessary for
the Ministry of Food to introduce a comprehensive scheme to
ensure equitable distribution. Accordingly, on 12 October 1941
an extensive national scheme was put into operation. Consumers
are required to register for milk supplies, and certain groups in
the population are given priority in the distribution of milk (see
table 10). The balance of the milk is divided among the rest of
the population. Up to 15 March 1942 non-priority adults were
allowed two pints of milk a week if supply conditions permitted.
This was raised during March to three pints a week. The amount
of milk given to non-priority consumers depends upon the dairyman's surplus after he has supplied his priority consumers.
Until January 1942 producer-retailers were outside the scheme
and were allowed to sell all their surpluses after supplying priority
consumers. In January these producers were required to make
returns of their surplus so that it could be directed to urban areas. 3
American canned milk is distributed by retail dairymen so that
it will be issued in conjunction with the scheme of supply for
liquid milk to non-priority consumers. 4 Milk powder and homeproduced and Empire canned milk are sold through the ordinary
food retailers, however, and distribution is not controlled to give
preference to priority classes. Approximately one tin of national
1
These diseases were the following: active tuberculosis; silicosis; conditions
in which t h e patient is unable to swallow food by reason of an affection of the
mouth, throat or gullet; gastric, duodenal or anastomatic ulcer; illness characterised by high and prolonged fever; post-operative conditions after major operations. No more than two pints daily, however, was allowed to persons suffering
from these illnesses.
» Between 25 October and 9 November 1941 milk sales were cut 15 per cent.
by order of the Ministry.
* See above, p. 86.
4
Thirty million tins of condensed milk were issued to dairymen in November,
and 40,000,000 tins in December. The quantity of milk released each month
depends on the liquid milk supplies.

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FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

household milk to each family was distributed in December 1941
and in January 1942. Household milk powder is to be distinguished
from national dried milk for infants. The former is skimmed milk
powder and is not suitable for infants, and the latter is distributed
in accordance with the National Milk Scheme adopted from
1 July 1940 and given statutory recognition on 18 April 1942.
TABLE 10. PRIORITIES IN MILK DISTRIBUTION

Group
Priority Consumers:
Children under 6 years
Children 6 to 18 years
Expectant mothers
Infants between 1 and 12 m o n t h s . .
Invalids 1
Priority
Establishments:
Hospitals, maternity homes, convalescent homes, sanatoria, etc.
Schools, orphanages and similar
residential
establishments
for
children and adolescents, school
canteens and feeding centres, and
non-residential nurseries

Others:
Grant-aided schools, grant-aided
nursery schools and grant-aided
non-residential wartime nurseries
and certain centres eligible for
milk under the Milk in Schools
Scheme*
Private and other non-grant-aided
schools, including any place where
children regularly attend for intruction
Workers in workshops and factories
subject to provisions of Factory
and Workshop Act of 1901 3
1

Amounts (Pints)
7 per week
3 H P e r week
7 per week
An additional 7 per week
W h a t doctor prescribes up to 14 per
week

7 per resident per week

(a) 7 per week for each resident child
holding child's ration book
(b) 2% per week for each resident child
holding a general ration book and who
is under 18 years of age
(c) 2 per week for each other resident
(<i) Such additional milk as Minister
of Food may authorise for non-residents

1/3 per day for each child taking milk

3 per week for each child taking milk
1/2 per day per head

The following illnesses are specified:

(a) an illness of an active worker including a domestic worker during which he is temporarily
incapacitated for work; (¿>) an illness characterised by high and prolonged fever; (c) a post-operative
condition after a major operation; (d) an illness of a child not attending school; (e) one or more
of the following illnesses: active tuberculosis of all types; silicosis; affection of the mouth, throat
or gullet, or organic nervous disorder causing interference with swallowing; gastric; duodenal or
anastomatic ulcer; dyspepsia due to conditions other than ulceration of the stomach or duodenum;
colitis; diabetes mellitus; thyrotoxicosis; nephritis; and hyperemesia gravidarum, chorea of pregnancy. acute yellow atrophy occurring during pregnancy, albuminuria of pregnancy and eclampsia
which are of sufficient severity to entail total confinement to bed.
* A larger daily quantity may be obtained in those cases where such is provided by a local
education authority, and grant-aided nursery schools and non-residential wartime nurseries may
be authorised to obtain a maximum of one pint per child per day.
• These include workers engaged in certain processes, e.g., lead processing, for whom milk is
considered a protection.
Since April 1942 milk for industrial workers is granted only on medical grounds.

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127

This scheme makes provision for a wider range of sick persons
than did the previous scheme1, and besides giving priority to the
classes enumerated in the free and cheap milk scheme it also
allows children between 6 and 18 years of age priority of half a
pint per day upon payment of the full retail price. Thus children
in this group who receive milk in school are guaranteed at most only
five-sixths of a pint per day—a far too small amount. These
quantities of fresh milk are supplemented by small quantities of
dried and condensed milk.
During the winter, as has been stated, milk allocations are low,
and the "unprecedented demand is so far ahead of supplies that
the gap (between production and consumption) is the widest in
the country's history". However, the Minister of Food stated:
There is no reason for gloom. A family of six, with two children under six
and two under 17, will have about 25 pints of liquid milk a week, excluding the
amount obtained in school; a family of two adults and two children under six
will have about 14 pints; a small family with one small child 10 pints. In addition, there are now available supplies of American condensed milk equal to about
two pints of milk a month for each adult, and next month there will be household powdered milk for cooking equal to four pints a month for each family.
Further, condensed milk produced at home and in the Empire will be available
a t all grocers.'

The shortage of milk has created difficulties for small dairies,
which have had their trade reduced to a level that makes it hard
for them to cover their overhead costs, and for "milk bars", which
are no longer able to serve milk and milk shakes. These "bars"
serving a variety of milk drinks were becoming increasingly popular
before the war, and their trade depended to a large extent on the
milk they obtained. They now have practically become tea and
coffee bars, and even the serving of coffee has been restricted
because of the shortage of milk.
OTHER

PRIORITIES

In addition to milk priorities, children have been given priority
in the distribution of oranges, and receive free allowances of codliver oil compound and fruit juices. As late as October 1941,
oranges were being distributed on a non-priority basis, and this
was so unsuccessful that a priority scheme was adopted. Oranges
arriving in Great Britain are reserved first for children under six,
1
There is some evidence t h a t doctors' certificates qualifying persons to
receive extra milk have been issued a little too freely, and the Ministry of Food
has threatened to investigate the situation.
s
Reported in The Times, 21 November 1941.

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FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

and in October one lb. for each child was distributed. When
supplies are not sufficient to allow distribution over the whole
country, distribution is limited to specified areas in rotation. On
the first five days when oranges are available they may be bought
only for children at the rate of one pound a week. After the fifth
day, oranges may be sold without restriction, but retailers are
encouraged to give preference to children and to schools.
Beginning on 8 December, a new scheme came into operation
for the distribution, free of charge, of black currant juice or puree,
orange juice and cod-liver oil to all children under two. The distribution is made through the Maternity and Child Welfare centres
and the Local Food Offices. All children under two years of age
receive cod-liver oil, those under six months receive black currant
juice, and those between six months and two years receive black
currant puree.
In the first few weeks of the scheme the response was disappointing, since only about one-third of those eligible under the
scheme had taken advantage of it. By the middle of January,
however, between 75 and 80 per cent, of the children under two
were receiving their cod-liver oil and fruit juices. In January the
free' issue of cod-liver oil was extended to include all children under
six.
The Ministry of Health organised a campaign in 1941 for the
collection of rose hips—an excellent source of vitamin C. School
teachers, boy scouts, girl guides and the Women's Voluntary
Service, women's rural institutes and other voluntary organisations
collected some 200 tons which were converted into 600,000 bottles
of rose hip syrup. This syrup is on sale through ordinary retail
channels, and although no priorities are established in distribution
most of it will probably be used for children.
Priority in the distribution of eggs is allowed to children under
six, to nursing and expectant mothers and to invalids suffering
from certain diseases.1 Four eggs are allowed to these groups for
every allocation of one to the ordinary consumer.
COMMUNAL FEEDING

Not only is the extension of communal feeding a basic part
of the British food policy, but it is also an increasingly important
aspect of the general war organisation of the country. The needs
1
Gastric, duodenal and anastomatic ulcers; post-operative conditions after
operations on the stomach, duodenum or small intestine; diseases or injuries to
the mouth, throat or gullet or organic nervous disorders interfering with mastication or the swallowing of solid food; typhoid and paratyphoid fever and amoebic
or bacillary dysentery under treatment in hospitals, et cetera.

RATIONING AND PRIORITY DISTRIBUTION

129

of industry and of the Army for increasing personnel have necessitated the mobilisation of women on a large scale. If women are to
enter industry, however, they must be freed from the necessity
of providing meals for husbands and children. The extension of
canteens in schools and factories accomplishes this purpose. Meals
for large numbers of people can be prepared and served at a lower
per capita cost in terms of food, fuel and labour when they are
provided communally than when they are provided in private
homes. Thus the extension of communal feeding results in a more
efficient use of shipping, resources and labour.
Longer hours of work, frequently under tense and difficult
circumstances, increase the importance to the workers of an
adequate noon meal at a reasonable price. This can be assured if
well managed canteens are installed in or near the factories. Canteens can be used even more satisfactorily than differential rationing to direct extra food to the groups in the population who need
it most. If extra food is allowed to children or particular classes
of workers on their ordinary ration books, there is no guarantee
that it will not be consumed by other members of the family. This
possibility is eliminated if canteens in schools and factories are
reponsible for distributing this extra food.
Increasingly large numbers of people are, therefore, eating at
least one meal communally each day. This meal is "off the ration"
and is intended to supplement the ration. Much criticism has
been directed against the Ministry of Food's policy of allowing
restaurants to serve rationed food without requiring coupons.
The critics claim that this policy favours the higher income groups.
The extension of subsidised industrial canteens and communal
feeding centres, however, brings "eating out" within the means
of practically every income group. 1 The criticism loses considerable force in face of the fact that a well cooked meal consisting of
one or two vegetables, potatoes, meat or fish and a dessert can
be obtained for about fifteen pence. The chief weakness is the
small number of these establishments. The non-rationing of meals
1
"During the last twenty-five years one of the great changes t h a t has taken
place in this country has been the development of the system of eating out.
Well-to-do people have always practised this, b u t the great change which has
taken place is t h a t it has now become the common practice of people who are
not well-to-do. I t was for this reason t h a t we have based our food control on
the assumption t h a t it was necessary to provide food not only for domestic consumption in the home b u t for consumption in catering establishments. We
found, however, t h a t these catering establishments were quite inadequate for
the provision of meals for working-class people on the very large scale. They
were inadequate in number, and they were inadequate to provide those meals
a t prices t h a t the people of whom we were talking could afford to pay. They were
also inadequate in point of position, in so far as very many of them were a long
way away from the places a t which people work." Minister of Food, in Parliamentary Debates, House of Lords, 2 December 1941, Vol. 121, col. 150.

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POOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

consumed in catering establishments is not, therefore, a result of
administrative laziness, as has frequently been charged, but a
deliberate policy designed to save labour, fuel and food, improve
the feeding of the people, and facilitate the transfer of women
into industry.
The importance of a sound knowledge of nutrition and of the
proper preparation of foods on the part of those in charge of communal feeding establishments in these circumstances is self-evident.
The Ministry of Food maintains a staff of experts to advise canteen
managers and others on these questions and publishes brochures
to assist those planning menus and in charge of the preparation
of food. Special efforts are made to instruct them in different ways
of using abundant, cheap and nutritious foods, e.g., potatoes and
carrots, in order to increase consumption yet avoid monotony in
the menus. Carefully managed communal feeding can, therefore,
be used to modify conservative food habits and to develop a more
efficient utilisation of available food supplies.
The supply of trained canteen cooks has been unable to keep
pace with the rapid extension of communal feeding, and a training scheme has been arranged by the Ministry of Labour in cooperation with the Board of Education and the Scottish Education Department. Training is given in Technical Institutes which
have the necessary equipment and in selected canteens. Courses
vary in length up to six weeks. Trainees in technical colleges
receive an allowance of 33s. a week and a free mid-day meal, or,
if the meal cannot be provided on any day, lOd. in place of it. In
canteens they receive 38s. a week and make their own meal arrangements. Transport expenses are paid.
Before the war, the only important form of communal feeding
was the ordinary restaurant. A great variety of these restaurants
catered for all income classes, but the standards of many of the
cheaper restaurants left much to be desired and prices were frequently high for the meals served. Wartime communal feeding
policy includes the ordinary restaurant but is aimed at the development of school canteens, factory and pithead canteens and public
communal feeding centres. In addition there are special arrangements for supplying hot meals in emergency conditions. Large
numbers of people are fed by means of (a) communal kitchens
designed to feed evacuated people and others requiring regular
meals for whom ordinary restaurant facilities are inadequate; (b)
cook houses intended to supply mobile canteens and individuals
who wish to buy ready-cooked meals to take away; (c) canteens
in schools, factories, and other places where large numbers of
people are congregated without suitable restaurant facilities; and

RATIONING AND PRIORITY DISTRIBUTION

131

(d) mobile canteens for supplying food in emergencies and to
scattered groups of people who are unable to come to the feeding
centres. The canteens are stocked from cook houses or other
supply kitchens.
Communal

Kitchens and Feeding Centres

The responsibility for the creation of community feeding
centres rests primarily with local authorities, but the Ministry of
Food will finance the construction of premises, cover losses on
running expenses, and provide specially trained people to give
advice and assist in solving any problems that arise. The Ministry
has also established a central pool of kitchen and dining equipment
which it has placed at the disposal of the local authorities for
equipping their feeding centres.
The term "British Restaurant" has been widely adopted for
these communal feeding centres. 1 They are intended to be established only when suitable catering facilities are not otherwise available 2 ,
and in the beginning arose primarily for the purpose of feeding
the population in bombed areas, Civil Defence Workers and other
similar groups. Their value for all groups in the population was
soon realised, however, and the scope of communal feeding was
extended accordingly. The provision of feeding facilities for people
wherever they were congregated became the goal of the Ministry
of Food's communal feeding policy.
An extensive official communal feeding drive was not begun
until the middle of 1940, primarily for emergency purposes, and
in September of that year a Director of Communal Feeding was
appointed in the Ministry of Food. By December only ten cities
and towns outside of London had reported that arrangements
were being made. The London County Council was more progressive in this respect, and its Leader was able to announce on
8 October 1940 that within a week after the beginning of the program 20 feeding centres had been established and "at the present
time, about three weeks since we started, we have some 60 centres
1
Other terms are frequently used, however. One local area with a population of 25,000 to 30,000 has five such restaurants which are called "Civic Cafés".
This area has an especially energetic and progressive local council.
1
The Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food stated on 11 November
1941 that "British Restaurants arc established where, in the opinion of the local
authority, facilities ought to be provided for the supply of hot, nutritious and
cheap meals, and where such facilities are not otherwise provided, or are inadequate. I t is the expressed wish of my Noble Friend that, before a decision is
taken to establish a British Restaurant, full account should be taken of facilities
provided by existing catering establishments. "Parliamentary Debates, House of
Commons, Vol. 374, col. 2058.

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FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

from which we are serving about 3,000 hot meals a day". 1 Most
of the restaurants are managed by former domestic science teachers.
The frequency and intensity of the bombing of the various areas
affected the speed with which the feeding centres were set up,
and since London was a heavily bombed area from the beginning,
the authorities in London acted more quickly in this respect and
attempted to establish a Londoners' Meals Service wherever it
was needed. Organisation in London is on an area basis.
Twelve areas were established, each in charge of a head teacher. Wherever
the need is found, a centre is opened. A continuous survey is carried on through
the educational officers and agents, and through voluntary associations and settlements, and wherever information is collected, indicating that a service is wanted,
immediate steps are taken to open a centre.2

After a slow start, however, the numbers of these centres
throughout the country grew rapidly. In May 1941 there were
489 British Restaurants operating in Great Britain, 65 of which
were in the Greater London Area. 8 By 31 October, this figure had
grown to 1,148.
The difficulty of obtaining suitable premises, adequate equipment and sufficient labour has hampered the establishment of the
British Restaurants. Closed-down restaurants, town halls and
other suitable buildings are used. In some areas where facilities
for school feeding existed before the war, these facilities have been
extended for community feeding. No priority for building materials
or labour supplies is granted to local authorities for establishing
feeding centres. Equipment has been purchased wherever possible,
and the Ministry of Food assists in supplying it. Specialised equipment for large centres is more difficult to obtain, and the size of
the feeding unit is frequently kept below the optimum for this
reason. The labour problem has been eased by the large-scale use
of voluntary workers.
British Restaurants are not charity institutions and are patronised by all classes of the population. The atmosphere is not that
of a bread line; the rooms are, for the most part, clean, cheerful,
and frequently as attractive as many of the best catering establishments, and they have been popular with the public in every
area where they have been set up. The restaurants are expected
to pay their current costs, although no consideration of loss is
allowed to interfere with the rendering of a needed service.
1

Quoted from MINISTRY OP FOOD: Bulletin, 11 October 1940.
Ibid.
See statement of the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food, in
Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, 28 May 1941, Vol. 371, col. 1870.
2
3

RATIONING AND PRIORITY DISTRIBUTION

133

Local authorities are required by the Ministry to conduct British Restaurants
on a fully self-supporting basis. T h e prices charged for meals should be sufficient
to cover overhead expenses, including amortisation of capital expenditure, and
a small margin for contingencies. The capital expenditures involved in establishing British Restaurants varies, mainly according to the structural adaptations
which may be necessary in each case. Running expenses also vary. It is not
possible to fix a standard price for meals . . . Speaking generally, however,
prices in British Restaurants are lower (than those of comparable catering
establishments) and this is no doubt due to the fact that, as previously stated,
these Restaurants are conducted on a self-supporting b u t not a profit-making
basis. 1

British Restaurants do, however, use a considerable proportion
of voluntary labour.
Plans for these restaurants must be approved by the Ministry
of Food, and there has been some criticism of delay by the Ministry
in granting approval after schemes are submitted. I t is probable
that arrangements could be made for speeding up the Ministry's
approval of the schemes of the local authorities. The Ministry
maintains a staff of experienced catering officers who are charged
with the inspection of British Restaurants throughout the country
to ensure that they are conducted efficiently and meet the requirements of the areas in which they are situated. These inspectors cooperate with the Food Advice Officers, who give advice to the
managers of British Restaurants on the best use of foods most abundant from time to time and also furnish suitable menus.
In addition to British Restaurants, cooking depots and community kitchens have been set up by the Ministry of Food. These
are primarily for emergency purposes, and cooking depots have
now been turned over to local authorities and can be used to supply
school canteens and other needs. They had previously been standing idle waiting for the emergency for which they were designed,
but their new use will not interfere with their use in emergencies.
Although the Ministry of Food distinguishes between emergency
and community feeding facilities, in practice they dovetail into
each other. The British Restaurant remains open during air raids
for emergency feeding and may prepare food to be taken out in
mobile canteens. Many of these restaurants and cooking depots
are independent of local fuel supplies, having supplies of solid
fuel, and are therefore able to operate when public utility services
have been interrupted. Cash-and-carry service is also supplied by
school canteens. Community kitchens are set up primarily for the
preparation of hot meals which are distributed by mobile canteens
or vans. These are of first importance during and after heavy
raids but have also been employed experimentally in rural areas.
1
Statement of the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food, in
Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, 1 October 1941, Vol. 374, cols. 599-600.

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CONTROL ÎN GREAT BRITAIN

Community feeding in rural areas must in some respects be
handled differently from community feeding in urban areas. Rural
shops are sometimes less well supplied with unrationed food than
urban shops, and supplies may arrive more irregularly. It is
frequently necessary for the people to travel to the nearest urban
shopping centre to obtain supplies of some unrationed foods.
Where the rural areas have been designated as reception areas,
the difficulties are intensified, since the geographical allocation of
food has not caught up with the movements of the population, and
evacuation areas are frequently over-supplied relatively to the
reception areas.
Progress in supplying rural areas with adequate feeding centres
had been very slow, but the Ministry of Food is experimenting
with several different methods. In some rural areas "cash-andcarry" kitchens have been established where people may buy
cooked meals for consumption elsewhere. In others, vans go out
from central kitchens to small villages and even to the workers in
the fields with hot meals and hot drinks. 1 If meals are transported
long distances after being cooked, adequate facilities for keeping
food hot—sometimes for a considerable time—are required. Special
investigations have been made regarding the effects of heating and
of keeping food hot for a long time on the nutritional elements of
food. Meals are sometimes cooked at 7 a.m. for example and not
consumed until noon. Not only will the nutritional value of food be
affected, but also in many cases its palatability and appearance.
Some foods can stand this treatment better than others, and research into this question is extremely important. The Children's
Nutrition Council has criticised existing research on this problem
as being unrealistic and failing to consider the conditions under
which food is prepared and distributed in practice.
Whatever methods we may be compelled to adopt in war, we must when
peace returns sanction only such schemes as are scientifically satisfactory. We
need laboratories equipped to investigate every aspect of this large-scale preparation, heating and conveying food; and we have no evidence that the present
lines of research are either realistic or adequate. 2
1
"Inquiries are being made as to the nature of the service best suited to the
varied conditions in different parts of the country and, a t present, it would appear
t h a t small British Restaurants, or Cash and Carry Kitchens, in the more populous rural areas, supplemented where necessary by Mobile Canteen Services,
would meet the requirements . . . The nature of further developments will
depend on the experience gained a t these centres and on the results of the general
inquiries now being made." Statement of the Parliamentary Secretary to the
Ministry of Food, in Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, 5 August 1941,
Vol. 373, cols. 1782-3.
2
War-time Nutrition Bulletin, September 1941, pp. 1-2.

RATIONING AND PRIORITY DISTRIBUTION

135

The communal feeding system is supplementary to ordinary
restaurant facilities. There has been, of course, some criticism by
those interested in commercial enterprises. In January 1942 a
deputation of commercial caterers urged the Minister of Food to
slow down the opening of British Restaurants on the ground that
they compete unfairly with private establishments, and the Ministry was accused of ruining small caterers. They drew from the
Minister the assurance that before any more British Restaurants
were opened the catering trade would be consulted, and furthermore that "British Restaurants had been brought into existence
solely to meet a wartime need, and he saw no reason to anticipate
their.continued existence after the emergency". 1 I t is not intended,
however, to discourage the establishment of British Restaurants
where they are needed.
There is no doubt that many people go to British Restaurants
who would otherwise have gone to an ordinary catering establishment. Meals are cheaper and frequently much better, and there
is no income qualification for patrons. These restaurants are,
however, subject to the same regulations as other catering establishments and clearly fulfil a community need. Through them the food
authorities can influence the dietary habits of the people and
help to secure the most efficient utilisation of the country's food
supplies. There is a vast difference between ordinary commercial
catering and catering for the purpose of feeding the people as well
and as cheaply as possible. There is little doubt that the nutritional
standard of the meals served in British Restaurants is superior to
the standards of the general run of low-priced catering establishments.
Regulation of Catering Establishments
The food supplies, especially those which are rationed, of all
catering establishments, including British Restaurants and canteens, are subject to certain restrictions, and the size and content
of meals served are regulated. Under an order dated 3 November
1939, every Food Control Committee was required to keep a
register of all catering establishments in its area seeking to obtain
bacon, ham or butter. Meat and sugar were included in December
1939. Under the rationing orders the amount of these foods allowed
to catering establishments was prescribed.
Not until 10 March 1941, however, were the number and content of courses of meals served in catering establishments regulated.
At this time catering establishments were prohibited from serving
1

The Times, 13 January 1942.

136

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

in any one meal more than one main dish and one subsidiary dish,
or more than two subsidiary dishes. A main dish was defined as
any dish containing any meat, poultry or game (excluding soup
containing less than 5 per cent, by weight of meat, poultry or
game), or a dish containing 33l/3 per cent, or more by weight of
fish, cheese or eggs (excluding eggs as an omelette, or scrambled
eggs). A subsidiary dish was defined as a dish (excluding soup)
which contains less than 1/3 by weight of fish, cheese or eggs. The
only meals excluded from these restrictions were those served to
patients in hospitals, sanatoria or nursing homes. In October 1941
cheese was removed from the classification as a main dish and
any amount of cheese, was allowed to be served in a subsidiary
dish.
At the same time as the restriction on meals went into effect,
local authorities were given the power to issue directions to catering
establishments regarding :
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)

The serving of meals at any hour or on any day;
The nature of the meals;
The price charged for meals;
The cooking of food in any catering establishment for
consumption elsewhere;
(5) Use of vehicles owned by, or the method of transport
at the disposal of, any catering establishment;
(6) The employment of the staff of any catering establishment to carry out the directions issued.
These powers were granted for extreme emergency use only, and
instructions issued to authorities stated that any directions given
under them were to be withdrawn as soon as the emergency ceased.
A more comprehensive registration of catering establishments,
residential establishments and institutions was adopted in November 1941, when these establishments were required to acquire
licences in order to obtain some 63 specified foods. All establishments and institutions were required to obtain a licence to carry
on their businesses, and control by the Ministry was thereby
tightened. Buying permits must be obtained from the Ministry
of Food by these establishments in order to obtain all rationed
and manyunrationed foods, and they must state the number of
meals in each of four classifications—breakfast, main meal, subsidiary meal and tea. Allowances are based on the number of
meals served in each category. When the milk reductions took

RATIONING AND PRIORITY DISTRIBUTION

137

place, catering establishments were given 50 per cent, of their
milk quota in evaporated or dried milk.1
School Canteens
On 21 October 1941 the Board of Education issued a circular 2
to local education authorities which began:
The President of the Board of Education and the Minister of Food have been
considering what further measures are necessary to secure and maintain a high
standard of nutrition among school children under war conditions. Insofar as
school facilities are concerned, this object can be secured in two ways, viz:—
(*') by the provision of school meals on a much larger scale than at present;
(ti) by an increase in the number of children taking school milk from the
present figure of 60 per cent, to as near 100 per cent, as may be possible.
T h e President desires to impress on all Authorities t h a t His Majesty's Government attach the highest importance to the rapid achievement of these aims.

School feeding existed before the war but was primarily for
"necessitous" children. Wartime school feeding is designed for
all children, partly because of the need of getting women into
industry, but largely because it is realised that growing children
have special dietary needs that are frequently not met in the
home, especially when many important foods are rationed under
a system that does not take into consideration the special needs
of children. As early as October 1939, the Ministry of Food issued
a memorandum urging the development of canteens for the feeding of children in school and giving practical advice on the establishment and running of canteens. Nevertheless, the provision of
school meals has proceeded extremely slowly, and in October 1941
only 300,000 out of 5,000,000 school children were getting midday meals in the school, but this was a 100 per cent, increase over
1940.8 From 1 October 1941, the minimum grant to public elementary schools by the Board of Education on the cost of providing
school meals was raised to 70 per cent. The maximum grant is
95 per cent, of the cost.
Most local authorities have initiated some sort of scheme for
school meals, and the rate at which new centres are put into operation is increasing rapidly, but as late as September 1941 the Children's Nutrition Council doubted that "more than 15-20 per cent.
1
See Appendix IV for Table of Allowances of Food to catering establishments.
In April 1942 the Government announced an impending decision to limit the
prices which might be charged for meals in hotels and restaurants.
» No. 1567.
8
See statement of the Minister of Food, in Parliamentary Debates, House of
Lords, 21 October 1941, Vol. 374, cols. 348 and 351.

138

POOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

of the local education authorities could boast of providing meals
for a tenth of the elementary school children in their areas". 1
The method of providing meals varies according to the conditions in each locality. Some large urban schools have their own
kitchens; other schools depend on outside kitchens or restaurants.
The Ministry of Food has encouraged the extension of cooking
depots set up and operated by the County Councils and local
authorities, each of which is capable of supplying about 3,000
mid-day meals daily. Arrangements have been made for these
depots as well as the British Restaurants to prepare and deliver
meals to schools.
From 17 November 1941, school canteens were registered as
priority establishments and were thereby assisted in obtaining
supplies of cocoa powder, starch food powders, rice, suet, pulses
and oatmeal. Allowances of meat and sugar are doubled, and that
of preserves nearly doubled. A special allowance of milk is given
for cooking purposes. 2
The Board of Education emphasises that the nutritional value
of school meals is of greatest importance and that adequate and
balanced meals
will not be cheap, b u t it is not the cost of the meal b u t its nutritive value t h a t
should be the paramount consideration. Parents look to the school dinner to
furnish the main meal of the day for their children, and this expectation can be
realised only by the provision of a first-rate meal. Unfortunately, there have
been, and still are some instances where the authorised allowances of food have
not been bought in full owing to a well-meant b u t mistaken effort to keep the
price of the school dinner very low or even to make a profit for sports funds,
etc. The Government's policy is frustrated by such practices. Economy should
be studied n o t by reducing the quantity or quality of the food and staving off
hunger with liquids such as soup, b u t by avoiding waste by skilled buying, and
by good cooking . . . If it is found t h a t some parents cannot pay the full cost
of the food the remedy is not to give a poorer meal, b u t to adjust the income
scales so as to provide for meals on part payment, as well as for free meals in
cases of greater necessity. Whether such adjustments are called for or not, it
is essential t h a t the arrangements should be such t h a t no child is debarred from
participating in the meals through inability of his parents to contribute to the
cost. 8

Canteens for Industrial

and Agricultural

Workers

Slowly the principle of feeding people where they are congregated has grown and spread. It was early applied to the feed1

War-Time Nutrition Bulletin, September 1941, p. 3.
See Appendix IV for the allowances for school canteens registered as priority
catering establishments for public elementary schools, day special schools,
nursery schools, secondary schools, and those technical schools serving mid-day
dinners mainly for students under 18.
« Circular No. 1571, 12 November 1941.
2

RATIONING AND PRIORITY DISTRIBUTION

139

ing of factory workers, and special allowances of food to such
centres on a comprehensive scale were introduced late in 1941. In
the beginning canteens were too often places where a choice of a
few "snack" foods could be obtained, but they have gradually
developed into full-fledged feeding centres. The number of canteens in the factories, at the pit-heads of mines and near the fields
where agricultural workers are employed is being increased. Largescale transfers of workers, many of whom are living in billets,
means that noon meals can no longer be obtained in the accustomed
manner and that what catering establishments there are will be
overcrowded. Workers who have to travel long distances to their
work must be provided with nearby feeding facilities. Night shifts
make necessary the provision of meals in factories at unusual
hours. The welfare work of the Ministry of Labour has long been
concerned with factory canteen facilities. The policy of the Ministry of Food in collaboration with the Ministry of Labour is that
every worker should be able to obtain at least one full meal at
his place of work.
In July and August 1940 a survey of the capacity of catering
establishments was carried out in order to obtain information regarding the need for special factory canteens and communal feeding
centres. All employers were urged to set up canteens for their workers
and the Ministry of Food agreed to assist them. The Ministry
of Labour and National Service determines where canteens are
needed, and the Ministry of Food co-operates in establishing them.
Under powers1 granted by the Minister of Labour, a factory
inspector can compel an employer who employs more than 250
workers, and who is engaged on Government work, to arrange for
the establishment in his factory of a canteen serving hot meals.
Similarly, dock authorities and employers • engaged in works of
construction can be compelled to provide canteens. 2 Factories
with less than 250 workers are considered too small for the general
provision of inside canteens to be practicable. In some cases a
number of factories of this sort have voluntarily joined together
to form a common canteen. In other areas where there is a large
number of small factories, British Restaurants have been set up
to serve them. Some of the factories thus served have made arrangements to bring cooked food in bulk from the British Restaurants in the area to the factories, where it is served in factory mess
rooms. 8
1

Factories (Canteen) Order, 1940.
' Docks (Provision of Canteens) Order, 1941, and Building Operations and
Works Engineering Construction (Welfare and Safety Provisions) Order, 1941.
* This arrangement seems to be particularly widespread in Birmingham.

140

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

By the end of July 1941,
there were canteens selling hot meals a t approximately 4,000 factories, including
shipbuilding yards, b u t excluding other canteens and refreshment houses a t
docks and canteens a t building sites. In addition such canteens were being
established a t about 750 factories. Canteens a t building sites numbered 460;
and dock canteens, insofar as they could be distinguished from other refreshment
houses a t docks, were reckoned a t 70, with 37 more in course of establishment. . .
Factory canteens have recently been coming into actual operation a t the rate
of about 100 a month. 1

In December 1941, the Minister of Food stated that there were
11,269 registered canteens in the country, including those in
factories, at pit heads, at building sites, dock estates and in schools. 2
The creation of canteens for miners presented special problems,
since cooking facilities cannot be used underground and the miners
cannot always get to a central canteen. The Ministry of Food has
sought the co-operation of the Minister of Mines and the Miners
Welfare Commission in arranging feeding facilities for miners.
In some districts miners are supplied with meat sandwiches which
form the "snapping" that they take down into the mine. Pithead canteens are being provided for the larger mines and "snack
bars" at smaller ones. The responsibility for the provision of
facilities in the mining industry has been assumed by the Miners
Welfare Commission, while the Ministry of Food takes care of the
provision of food. The latter has placed at the disposal of the industry a staff expert in the organising of canteens.* The Miners
Welfare Commission has funds which can be used for equipping
canteens. By 27 January 1942, 667 collieries had canteens serving
sandwiches, meat pies or snacks, and 152 more collieries had canteens in preparation. About 590,000 men were employed by these
collieries. Only 49 collieries had canteens providing full meals,
but 312 had canteens in preparation. 4 These collieries employed
nearly 350,000 workers. The program for feeding miners envisages
the setting up of 856 canteens feeding 680,500 miners—about 93
per cent, of the miners in the country. 6
Until the latter part of 1941 catering establishments of all
kinds were treated equally in respect of food supplies, with the
1
Statement of the Minister of Labour and National Service, in Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, 2 October 1941, Vol. 374, col. 696.
2
Parliamentary Debates, House of Lords, 3 December 1941, Vol. 121, col. 152.
* See letter from the Minister of Food in The Times, 7 July 1941.
4
Most of these canteens in preparation served sandwiches and snacks and are
thus included in the figures for those canteens.
6
This will involve an estimated expenditure of £1,250,000 in the twelve
months following the beginning of December 1941. See statement of the Minister
of Food, in Parliamentary Debates, House of Lords, 2 December 1941, Vol. 121,
col. 154.

RATIONING AND PRIORITY DISTRIBUTION

141

exception of canteens serving heavy workers or workers who
worked for long hours and who were engaged on essential production. Extra allowances of cheese and meat were given to these
establishments and priority was assured them in obtaining their
ordinary requirements'. In October 1941, however, the Ministry
of Food issued the following announcement:
T h e rations of industrial workers will be supplemented by increasing the
allowances of food to canteens and other catering establishments serving industrial workers. All catering establishments, private and public, will be divided
into three categories. Category A will comprise canteens and certain other
approved catering establishments (such as dock-side restaurants) serving meals
to workers in a small number of heavy industries of great national importance,
including mining, quarrying, docks, iron and steel, and metal extraction. Category
B will include all other industrial canteens and private establishments catering
wholly or mainly for workers in factories or other industrial works. 1 Category C
will consist of all other catering establishments.*

Increased allowances of food, determined in consultation with
the Ministry of Labour, are assured to the priority categories A
and B. s Category C continues to receive the ordinary allowances.
It is true that under these arrangements some individuals who
are not priority workers, but who happen to take meals in priority
establishments, receive extra foods. The number of these individuals is not large, however, in relation to the numbers of priority
workers, and it is doubtful whether any practicable system could
be devised which would eliminate all anomalies of this sort.
In addition to priority allowances for canteens, extra food is
given to certain recreational clubs for war workers and to clubs
at Headquarters of the Air Training Corps to enable them to
provide light refreshments. Youth Service centres, which are established by the local education authorities or voluntary bodies for
young working people, are similarly allowed extra food to enable
them to provide light refreshments for young people who attend
the centres after work in factories and other industrial establishments. Youth Service centres with adequate cooking facilities and
which are open at least five nights a week are given a special
allowance of milk and the normal catering allowance of other
foods. Centres without cooking facilities open at least three nights
a week and with a normal attendance of 30 receive the normal
catering allocation of sugar, preserves and fats and a special
allocation of milk and cheese. Assistance in obtaining rationed
foods is also given to roadside cafes serving transport workers.
1
Commercial catering establishments, 60 per cent, or more of whose patrons
are industrial workers, are included in this category.
» Press Notice 1395, 25 October 1941.
• See Appendix IV, table x n .

142

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

The extension of communal feeding of all sorts thus provides
a supplementary allowance of food above the domestic ration,
which is based on the "average domestic need of the average household". 1 These supplementary allowances are to some extent based
on the nutritional needs of different groups of the population.
The full development of the programme will go far towards establishing a well-founded system of differential feeding of different
groups based on needs and not on income. The provision of food
by catering establishments "off the ration" does, however, discriminate in the beginning against low income groups, against
individuals in reception areas where such establishments are too
few to meet the demand, and against workers in areas whose
population is swollen by an influx of workers for recently expanded
or established war industries. The rapid provision of feeding
centres reduces this discrimination, but unfortunately the feeding
programme has been very slow in getting under way. I t is moving
rapidly, but there is still a long way to go before the entire working
and school population is adequately catered for in cheap and
good public restaurants and canteens. Until this goal has been
reached criticism of "off the ration" feeding in catering establishments retains much of its force. There are great differences between
different localities, depending on the energy and progressiveness
of the local authorities and on the influence of the local catering
trades, which generally oppose the British Restaurants. Some areas
having large influxes of evacuees are insufficiently provided with
Communal Feeding Centres, and there the congestion in the
existing catering establishments is acute. One area, ïor example,
whose population is swollen from a peace-time figure of about
60,000 people to over 80,000 has no British Restaurants although
it has a few lunch rooms and canteens. The evacuees, who suffer
most in these cases, have no voice in local affairs, and it is the
local authority which decides whether a British Restaurant should
be established.
If enough British Restaurants are not provided the policy of
encouraging communal "off the ration" feeding is seriously impaired, because as restaurant prices rise public criticism of what
amounts to a discrimination in favour of the higher income groups
increases. This might cause more restrictions on, or even rationing
of, restaurant meals. The British Restaurant idea is undoubtedly
a good one, but the restaurants must be scattered generously
throughout the country if the general policy of which they are
the backbone is not to break down.
1
Minister of Food, in Parliamentary Debates, House of Lords, 2 December
1941, Vol. 121, col. 150.

RATIONING AND PRIORITY DISTRIBUTION

143

EMERGENCY FEEDING

Community kitchens and cooking depots are the backbone of
the emergency feeding programme. British Restaurants, many
of which can operate independently of the city fuel and light
supplies, are open during air raids. For towns that are heavily
bombed, however, fleets of mobile canteens with independent
cooking facilities are rushed to the critical areas. "Food convoys"
for every Food Division in the country have been created. Each
convoy is a complete unit, equipped with food, water, solid fuel
and utensils. It generally includes eight vehicles—one 350-gallon
water tanker, two lorries carrying food for 6,000 meals of tea, bread,
margarine and vegetable stew, two kitchen lorries, and three
mobile canteens to distribute the food. Motor-cycle despatch riders
are attached to each unit to maintain liaison between the components of the convoy and with the local authorities. People in
the bombed towns are informed where food can be obtained by
means of a loud-speaker van. The Trades Union Congress also
maintains a fleet of mobile canteens for emergency service.
Canteens have been established in public air-raid shelters by
the local authorities and by voluntary bodies. Except in the canteens of local authorities, the sale of food in public air-raid shelters
is permitted only under licence from the Ministry of Food. In
London, by December 1940, over 1,000 shelters had regular arrangements capable of feeding over 200,000 people each night in
addition to the 121,000 people fed nightly in the tube stations by
the London Passenger Transport Board.
Meals provided in
shelters could not be so well balanced on the whole as those of canteens and other establishments, since the unpredictable demand
made perishable foods wasteful to handle and meant that only
foods fairly easily stored could be used. Canned foods which
would have met the requirements of both storage and nutrition
were not available in sufficient quantities. Emergency feeding
facilities are closely associated with the general emergency distribution programme which has already been discussed.1
The contribution of voluntary groups and especially of voluntary workers to the development of the communal feeding facilities
of all sorts must not be overlooked. The Women's Voluntary
Services have been especially active in this field, and many school
and factory canteens owe much to the labour they have freely
offered. In addition, voluntary groups publish pamphlets designed
to give information regarding the setting up of canteens and
restaurants and suggestions regarding suitable menus to those
» See pp. 101-105.

144

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

who were working to establish such undertakings. For example,
in 1940 the W.V.S. issued a 70-page pamphlet on Community
Feeding in War-time.1 Fire watchers and other A.R.P. Services
have in many cases been fed while on duty entirely by women
working voluntarily. Many employers have voluntarily set up
and run canteens for the workers in their factories; this is clearly
in the interest of employers, since increased output and improved
morale not infrequently follow the establishment of a good canteen.
The Minister of Food spoke with praise of the work of the voluntary organisations in helping to provide dockside feeding facilities :
I think it would be appropriate . . . to pay tribute to the work of some of
the voluntary organisations in this matter. When we first became aware of the
necessity of increasing these dockside canteens, there was obviously going to
be a delay before we could bring the new machinery into existence, and a number
of voluntary bodies, many of them women's bodies, including the Women's
Voluntary Service and the Y.W.C.A., came along with their mobile canteens
and went to the dockside day after day, regularly providing meals for the dock
workers. That was a very valuable piece of war work, for which I am grateful.'

This is only one example of the work these groups are doing
all over the country.

1
1

Second edition, 1941 (H.M.S.O.).
Parliamentary Debates, House of Lords, 2 December 1941, Vol. 121, col. 153.

CHAPTER V
FOOD PRICE CONTROL POLICY

Food prices contribute 60 per cent, to the Ministry of Labour's
cost-of-living index in Great Britain. This index to a large extent
determines the course of wage rates in the country. When it rises,
demands for increased money income follow from many sections in
the population. If it rises far these demands must be granted if
morale, efficiency and health are to be maintained among the
people, but incomes do not always rise as fast as prices, and severe
injustice is done to the recipients of low and fixed money incomes
since they suffer a fall in their real income as prices rise. Furthermore, in wartime even if money incomes kept pace with prices
real income must fall since the supply of consumers' goods is not
being increased but rather reduced. Prices may rise in response
to increased demand, but there is little tendency for them to call
forth greater supplies, and the well-known "vicious spiral" results.
Control of prices therefore is a central part of financial policy,
and especially control of the prices of those goods bulking in the
cost of living.
The stability of the cost-of-living index is considered important,
partly because the wages of over 2 j ^ million workers are linked
directly to it, but also because it is widely believed to measure the
effect of the war on costs of living and thereby on the material
wellbeing of the people. The index, however, measures changes
from 1914 in the cost of buying a particular collection of goods and
services. The cost of this composite commodity is assumed to
represent the cost of living for the average worker's family.1 The
index simply represents the changes in the cost of buying this collection. When it stands at 165, for example, it means that the cost of
buying the collection of foods consumed in 1914 and included in
the index is 65 per cent, higher than it was in July 1914. It is
1
The collection of goods and services included in the index was selected on
the basis of a family budget enquiry of 1904, and the proportion of total expenditure on each item or group of items in the budget determines the weight given
in the index to each item or group of items.

146

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

obvious, therefore, that apart from whatever changes occurred
between 1914 and the outbreak of the present war in the composite
commodity consumed by the average working-class family, the
index is unreliable as an index of the cost of food to the average
family in wartime. Rationing has considerably altered the kinds
and amounts of foods bought by the people. Goods are no longer
available in the same quantities as before the war, and the cost of
living in wartime is the cost of buying a different collection of
goods from that bought previously. Seventy-one per cent, of the
food prices index is made up of foods that are now rationed, if
milk and eggs are included in this category, and consumption of
rationed goods is restricted in most cases below the pre-war level.
The Economist1 has pointed out that rationing has so reduced the
quantities of foods available that "the increase in the average
household's expenditure on the items included in the index cannot
have been as big as its rise since the outbreak of war". This may
be true, but the index excludes all fresh fruits and vegetables,
canned goods, jam, fats other than butter and margarine, sweets
and preserves, and other miscellaneous items. The deficiencies
resulting from decreases in the amounts of rationed food that can
be bought must be made up from other sources which are not included in the food prices index. The cost of an adequate diet has
probably increased as a result of the increased prices and partial
disappearance of fruits and vegetables and the necessity of purchasing more of the more expensive unrationed commodities that
do not carry sufficient weight in the index or are not included in it. 2
The proportion of the total family expenditure on food that is
included in the food prices index is less than before the war, and
the index is consequently a less reliable measure of the cost of
food to the average family. Nevertheless, the Ministry of Labour's
cost-of-living index is the only official measure of cost of living in
use in the United Kingdom.
The index which stood at 155 (July 1914 = 100) on 1 September
19393, rose to 187 on 1 September 1940, and to 199 on 1 September
1941—a rise of only 28 per cent. During 1941 the index was remarkably steady—fluctuating within a range of 5 points. Approximately
18.8 per cent, of the increase over September 1939 was due to the
purchase tax and additional taxes on sugar, tea, tobacco, matches
and cigarettes.
1

31 M a y 1941, p. 732.
See Bulletin of the Institute of Statistics, Oxford, 5 April 1941, Vol. 3, No.
5, p. 92, and 30 August 1941, Vol. 3, No. 12 (Supplement I).
8
The price and index figures given for any month in the following discussion
refer to the first of the month, and therefore represent the situation in the previous
month.
2

147

FOOD PRICE CONTROL POUCY
T A B L E 1 1 . COST-OF-LIVING I N D E X O F T H E MINISTRY O F LABOUR

(July 1914 -

100.)

1939

Month

Index
on 1st
of e a c h
month

January..
February. ,
March
April
May
June
July
August.. ..
September
October.. .
November.
December.

155
155
153
153
153
153
156
155
155
165
169
173

Source:

Ministry

of Labour

1941

1940

Per cent.
increase
over S e p t .
1939

9

UH

Index
on 1st
of e a c h
month

174
177
179
178
180
181
187
185
187
189
192
195

Per cent.
increase
over Sept.
1939

12
14
15^
15
16
17
21
19
21
22
24
26

Index
on 1st
of e a c h
month

Per cent
increase.
over Sept.
1939

196
197
197
198
200
200
199
199
199
199
200
201

26
27
27
28
29
29
28
28
28
28
29
29M

Gazette.

Thus the policy of stabilising the cost of living as measured by
this index has been extremely successful—owing in no small
measure to the stabilisation of the food prices index. The index
of retail food prices in the United Kingdom stood at 138 on 1
September 1939 and at 166 on 1 September 1941—a rise of 20 per
cent., which is substantially less than the rise in the total costof-living index. During 1941 the index actually fell from 172 to
165.
TABLE

12.

I N D E X O F R E T A I L FOOD P R I C E S OF T H E M I N I S T R Y OF LABOUR

(July 1914 - 100.)
1939
Month

January. .
February..
March
April
May
June
July
August. . .
September.
October.. .
November.
December.
Source:

Ministry

Index
on 1st
of each
month

P e r cent.
increase
over S e p t .
1939

138
135
135
135
134
139
137
138
150
154
157
of Labour

1941

Gazette.

9
12
14

Index
on 1st
of e a c h
month

157
161
161
158
159
158
168
164
166
169
172
173

Per cent.
increase
over S e p t .
1939

14
17
17
14^
15
14^
22
19
20
22
25
25

Index
on 1st
of e a c h
month

172
171
169
170
171
170
167
167
166
165
165
165

Per cent.
increase
over S e p t .
1939

25
24
22
23
24
23
21
21
20
20
20
20

148

FOOD CONTROL IÑ GREAT BRITAIN
FOOD SUBSIDIES

The chief reason for the stability of this index is the Government's subsidy policy. The food prices index rose sharply after
the outbreak of war, as is shown above, and in December 1939 the
policy of subsidising certain foods was started in order to prevent
their prices from rising too quickly. For the first seven months of
the war, coming within the financial year ending 31 March 1940,
the deficit in the Ministry of Food's trading accounts amounted
to £19,500,000, of which a little more than one-half was used to
subsidise bread and flour, one quarter to subsidise meat, and the
balance for liquid milk and bacon. 1 On 31 January 1940 the Chancellor of the Exchequer disclosed that the annual subsidy on food
was amounting to about £50,000,000 a year. 2 The weekly subsidy
on bread and flour was £480,000, on milk £235,000, on meat
£320,000, and on bacon £80,000. These subsidies had prevented
a rise of an additional 12 points in the food prices i n d e x — 7 ^
points in the cost-of-living index. 3 In the fiscal year 1940-1, the
rate of subsidy was considerably higher, and in April 1940 the
Chancellor of the Exchequer proposed
. . . to continue and extend the policy of stabilisation in an endeavour to
prevent any further rise of the Cost-of-Living Index Number, apart from minor
seasonal changes, above the present range of 125-130 in terms of the pre-war
level . . . I have included in my estimated expenditure a margin to provide for
important extensions of the principle of subsidising essential goods and services.4

At the present time subsidised foods account for approximately
75 per cent, of the food price index 6 , and subsidies are being paid
at the rate of some £102,000,000 a year, excluding the pre-war
1
Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food, in Parliamentary Debates,
House of Commons, 13 November 1940, Vol. 365, col. 1207.
1
Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, 31 January 1940, Vol. 356, col.
1155.
» See debate on Food Prices in Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons,
8 February 1940, Vol. 357.
4
Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, 7 April 1941, Vol. 370, col. 1321.
6
In the food prices index subsidised foods receive weights of 228 out of a total
of 334. The weights for each food are as follows:

•Beef
48
»Bread
50
Cheese
10
•Mutton
24
"Tea
22
Margarine
10
Bacon
19
Sugar
19
*Eggs
19
Fish
9
»Milk
25
»Potatoes
18
»Flour
20
Butter
41
»Subsidised food.
Source: MINISTRY OP LABOUR: The Cost of Living Index Number, Method of
Compilation (H.M.S.O., 1931).

149

POOD PRICE CONTROL POUCY

cost of the cattle and sugar beet subsidies 1 which have been continued. The various foods are subsidised as follows2:
Million £

Flour, bread, oatmeal and feeding stuffs
Meat
Milk, tea, eggs, potatoes
National Milk Scheme
Total

50
23
12
17
102

In addition, the cost of transport of many foods is borne by
the Ministry of Food, involving a subsidy of £20,000,000 annually. 8
This subsidy of more than £100,000,000 a year may be expected
to become larger as costs rise. The recent increase in the wages of
agricultural workers, the increased difficulties of ocean transport
as a result of the hostilities in the Far East, and the continued
rise of other costs, will raise the amount of subsidy required if
retail prices of food are to be kept down in accordance with the
policy enunciated above.
COURSE OF FOOD PRICES

The prices of the different foods have followed widely different
courses since the outbreak of war. Most of them have risen, but a
small part of the rise is the result of the elimination of the cheaper
brands of many foodstuffs, which raises the average price. Greater
seasonal fluctuations in prices occur when imports from different
climates are cut off, since the seasons of the year occur at different
times in different parts of the world. This is an important factor
for fruit and eggs. The prices of some foods have been affected
more by the German occupation of the continent than others, and
the home production of most foods has been hampered by the
shipping difficulties, which caused a shortage of fertilisers and
feeding stuffs, and by a shortage of labour.
The prices of flour and bread have remained steady as a result
of the subsidy. Flour prices were lower on 1 September 1941
than they were on 1 September 1939, although they rose sharply
during October 1941 as a result of a change in policy which reduced
the subsidy on flour and increased it on bread, the price of which
was lower on 1 November 1941 than on 1 September 1939.4 Flour
and bread, therefore, played no part in contributing to the rise
1

Amounting to about £6,750,000 annually before the war.
See statement of the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food, in
Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, 9 September 1941, Vol. 374, col. 50.
» Ibid., 14 October 1941, Vol. 374, col. 1241.
1
See Appendix V for the individual food prices and indices on which this
discussion and the discussion of other foods which follows it are based.
s

ISO

ÍOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

in the food prices index. Tea rose from an average price of 2s. 4d.
on 1 September 1939 to 2s. 6d. on 1 May 1940, where it has remained
as a result of control. The price of sugar has fluctuated slightly,
but in December 1941 it stood at the same level as before the war.
Thus bread, flour, sugar and tea have been kept at approximately
the pre-war level.
On the other hand, prices of meat, bacon, fish, milk, eggs,
cheese, butter, margarine and potatoes have risen markedly. Fish
showed the greatest percentage of increase between 1 September
1939 and 1 September 1941, having risen 56 per cent. During the
first seven months of 1941 the prices were even higher, the index
on 1 May reaching 455 (1914 = 100) compared with 206 on 1
September 1939-an increase of 121.1 per cent. During this period
fish prices were not controlled, with the exception of herrings,
Icelandic cod and imported cod fillets, and the extravagant heights
to which prices rose caused great public discontent, manifested in
the newspapers and Parliament.
Control of fish prices is difficult because during the war fishing
is extremely hazardous and the men who go to sea must be adequately recompensed for the risks they run. The Admiralty has
requisitioned for minesweeping about 75 per cent, of the trawlers
usually engaged in the trade, thus reducing normal fish supplies
by approximately the same amount, and demand is far greater
than the reduced supply. Furthermore, fish is an extremely perishable commodity.
Before imposing control the Ministry of Food entered into
negotiations with the fish trade to try to develop a voluntary
scheme for controlling the industry. When Lord Woolton announced in the House of Lords on 25 June 1941 the imposition of
a complete system of price control in the fishing industry, he said:
I sought the assistance of the trade some months ago, and asked them to put
their house in order and to put themselves right with public opinion. M y negotiations with t h e trade have been long and they have been patiently conducted
with its many branches and ramifications. I have now received proposals regarding what they consider to be the proper prices for the public to pay. I reject
these proposals. When I invited the trade to put its house in order, I did not
invite it to perpetuate extravagant prices which I am told have met with the
stern disapproval of many who value the good name of their trade. 1

Early in 1941 the sale of fish by wholesalers was prohibited
except under licence and maximum prices for all fish except shellfish, salmon, trout and pickled herrings were prescribed. Prices
of fish were controlled at the quay, in the shops and at all intermediate stages.
1

Parliamentary

Debates, House of Lords, 25 J u n e 1941, Vol. 119, col. 512.

FOOD PRICE CONTROL POLICY

151

A special effort is made to protect the remuneration of fishing
crews.
. . . It is a custom of the British fishing industry for the crews of trawlers
to be paid on a profit-sharing basis. These men who seek our food in dangerous
waters must be adequately rewarded for the risks that they run. In the fishing
industry two types of people take risks, but the risks are entirely different in
character. There are the men who go down to the sea in ships and sail daily and
nightly among the mines; their risk remains and must be rewarded. There are
others who control the industry from the comparative security of the land. They
take the commercial risk, which indeed is considerable in peace-time but in wartime is greatly reduced. In commercial practice, the cost of labour and the cost
and profit on management both go to fix the price of goods to the consumer.
But there is no reason why the profits of the owners should be automatically
increased by the fact that under war conditions an additional inducement has
to be given to the crew. I have, therefore, decided to include in the Order a provision requiring that whenever the firsthand price reaches the maximum, one
shilling a stone shall be reserved exclusively for the crew. By this means we shall
secure that the remuneration of the fishermen will be on the same basis as if I
had accepted the level of maximum prices which were recommended by the
Trade Committee.1

Since fishing crews are paid in relation to the value of the
catch, the result of the order referred to is to raise the value of
the catch for the purpose of remunerating the fishermen, and
owners are required to settle with the men, if the maximum prices
are reached (which occurs 90 per cent, of the time), on a higher
value basis than the maximum prices would give for the catch.
For fish previously uncontrolled the prescribed prices were
substantially below the prevailing prices. The fish prices index
fell promptly to 337 on 1 July, and subsequent reductions in the
prescribed prices of certain fish brought it down to 305 on 1 October.
The prices of other first-class proteins also rose considerably
between 1 September 1939 and 1 September 1941 but less than
fish prices, since they were better controlled and, with the exception of cheese, the shortage was not so severe. Furthermore, they
are all rationed, and, most important, all of them are subsidised.
The cheese prices index rose 29.3 per cent., and the milk prices
index 30.7 per cent. The entire increase in cheese prices took
place before June 1940. After the maximum price order of May,
the average price of cheese published in the Ministry of Labour
Gazette fell 10 per cent. Before the imposition of price control,
the Ministry of Food tried to regulate the price of cheese by releasing imported supplies at its own price, although the Minister of
Food was not the sole importer of cheese, and did not purchase
» Ibid., col. 513.

152

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

home supplies. The loss involved in this transaction was at the
rate of £600,000 a year. 1
Retail milk prices are subject to seasonal and regional variations. They were raised sharply in June 1940 to cover increased
producers' and distributors' costs, but at the same time the National
Milk Scheme was introduced, which offset this rise for the priority
classes.2 They were raised again in December 1940 to an average
of 9d. a quart, around which level they have since fluctuated seasonally.
Egg prices have gone through somewhat the same history as
fish prices, increasing scarcity sending prices up to a peak during
October and November 1940. The progressive occupation of the
continent by Germany cut off supplies of Dutch and Danish eggs,
and this augmented the existing scarcity. The index on 1 December 1940 stood at 314 compared with 228 in 1939 and 200 in
1941. The history of the Ministry of Food's attempts to control
egg supplies and prices is discussed above. 3 As may be seen from
the index of prices4, it was not until the introduction of control
in June 1941 that egg prices were stabilised. In addition a subsidy
was paid on them and they fell from an average of 2%d. each on
1 June to 23^d. for large eggs and 2%d. for small eggs on 1 July.
Meat policy and prices went through a confused series of
changes from the outbreak of war until the middle of January
1940. In September 1939, provisional prices were established for
home-killed meat, stocks of canned meat and imported meat and
pork were requisitioned, and control set up over importers. Then
in December price control was abandoned and a free market in
home-produced meat and fatstocks was restored. The Economist5
commented as follows:
The reason given was t h a t marketings of fat stock will be sufficient in the
next few weeks to offset the shortage in supplies of imported meat caused by
the demand of t h e Army. But to the working-class urban housewife, high quality
British beef and pork are not a substitute for the standard cuts of imported
meat. British and imported meat serve very different markets and they are
only interchangeable if the Ministry has control over all supplies and allocates
meat, irrespective of origin to the butchers a t standard prices.

The policy pursued by the Ministries of Food and Agriculture
in regard to the prices paid to the farmers for the various kinds
of livestock has been discussed above. The prices that the Ministry
1
Fourth Report from the Select
cit., p. 26.
2
See above, pp. 124-126.
3
pp. 91-93.
* See Appendix V.
8
9 December 1939, p. 369.

Committee

on National

Expenditure,

op.

FOOD PRICE CONTROL POLICY

153

considers itself justified in charging the consumer leave a trading
loss in the accounts of the Ministry, which is, of course, a subsidy
on meat.
Meat is rationed by value, and consequently prevailing prices
directly limit the quantity that may be obtained on the ration.
This form of rationing has also resulted in a greater relative increase in the prices of the cheaper cuts than in those of the more
expensive cuts. The more expensive cuts of home-produced meat
have risen less in price than the corresponding cuts of imported
meat, while the cheaper cuts of home-produced meat have risen
more than those of imported meat. This is partly the result of the
method of rationing adopted, which results in smaller demand for
the more expensive cuts. The supply of the latter cannot be decreased in relation to that of the cheaper cuts because they are
joint products, and therefore the prices of the more expensive cuts
must be reduced in relation to those of the cheaper cuts. The
demand for the more expensive imported cuts will increase at the
expense of the demand for the corresponding domestic cuts because
the prices of the former are considerably lower than those of the
latter. In September 1939, for example, home-produced beef ribs
sold at an average price of Is. 2j^d. per pound, and leg of mutton
at Is. 3j^d. per pound, while the corresponding cuts of chilled
and frozen meat sold at 93^d. and l O ^ d . respectively. This difference induced people to demand more imported meat in relation
to home-produced meat, and the price rose from 9%á. to Is. 0%d.
per pound for chilled and frozen beef ribs, and from lOj^d. to Is.
for frozen leg of mutton, while home-produced corresponding cuts
rose only from Is. 2j^d. to Is. 3%d., and from Is. 33^d. to Is.
5j4d. respectively. On the other hand, the price of the cheaper
cuts of home-produced meat has risen more in relation to the price
of the corresponding cuts of imported meat because, although the
difference in price is great, many people who were accustomed to
buying expensive home-produced meat would buy the cheaper
cuts of domestic meat rather than turn to imported chilled or frozen
meat. The preference for domestic meat is marked in the cheaper
price range.
The index of fresh butter prices rose 15 per cent, in the period
concerned, and that of salt butter 25.2 per cent. There is now
only one grade of butter sold—National Butter—at Is. 7d. a pound.
Since the price of fresh butter on 1 September 1939 was Is. 4 ^ d .
per pound, and that of salt butter Is. V/Ì6.., the rise in price is
greater for the cheaper butter. However, the price of butter is of
less importance on account of the predominance of margarine in
the ration and because margarine as manufactured in the United

154

FOOD CONTRO!, IN GREAT BRITAIN

Kingdom to-day is more than an adequate substitute for butter
since it contains as much vitamin A and twice as much vitamin
D as butter. The margarine price index has risen 12 per cent.,
but this index is an average of the two grades, one of which sells
at 9d. per pound and the other at 5d. The pre-war average price
was 63^d., and consequently the present price of the standard
brand is lower than the pre-war average price, but it is not lower
than the cheapest brand available before the war. For five months
in the beginning of 1940, margarine prices rose to an average of
7J4d. P e r pound because of an increase in the prices of the higherpriced brands resulting from decontrol by the Ministry of Food
in this period. In July 1940 margarine was rationed and the
grades standardised, and the price has not changed since then.
Bacon prices rose 35.6 per cent, in this period. They increased
from an average of Is. 3d. a pound in September 1939 to Is. 8j^d.
in February 1940, when they were lowered to Is. 6 ^ d . , involving
the Ministry of Food in a trading loss of about £80,000 a week.
They were, however, still 3 ^ d . above pre-war prices. This subsidy was severely criticised in many quarters, partly because
bacon is not one of the most essential foods and partly because
a considerable section of the public was unable to buy its full
ration of bacon even at the lower price resulting from the subsidy.
This meant, of course, that the subsidy was not actually going to
those who needed it. With the removal of the subsidy in February
1941, average bacon prices were raised.
The price of potatoes—the only other food included in the
food prices index—rose 36.8 per cent, in the period under consideration. This rise was due to the increased price granted to producers
in order to encourage production and to cover increased costs.
Prices during 1942 will remain at the level prevailing in December
1941, although the maximum growers' prices have risen seasonally
since January 1942. The difference between the fixed growers'
prices in December and in each subsequent month is met by a
subsidy. Prices of potatoes are normally subject to seasonal variations and are highest in June, when the new crop is replacing the
old crop.
The most important foods not included in the food prices
index are fruits, vegetables, canned goods and oils and fats other
than butter. There are few fresh fruits available in the towns—
fewer in winter than in summer—and prices are high. There are
some dried fruits, of which prices are controlled and supplies are
rationed to consumers. Vegetables are more expensive than before
the war and there is less variety. Carrots and potatoes are the most
abundant and are the only cheap vegetables. All canned goods

FOOD PRICE CONTROL POLICY

155

are very expensive compared with the pre-war situation. There
is no reliable measure of the wartime increase in the prices of
these foods. Price controls have been applied to many of these
foods. The prices of carrots are not controlled, but these are
bought first-hand by the National Vegetable Marketing Company,
an agent of the Ministry of Food. The abundance of carrots makes
price control unnecessary. With the rationing of meat, greater
importance is attached to poultry, rabbits, sausages, offals and
vegetable proteins such as dried peas, beans and lentils, all of
which are controlled by maximum price orders. Horseflesh and
goat meat are not included in the ration and the prices of these
foods have recently come under control.
METHODS OP CONTROLLING PRICES

Prices of food are controlled either by prescribing fixed or
maximum prices or under a current prices order which limits prices
to those ruling in some base period for the same or similar goods
sold under similar conditions. Current prices orders were issued
for most commodities before specified maximum prices were set,
but they were in most cases followed by maximum price orders.
In January 1941, the Ministry of Food brought a large number
of previously uncontrolled foods1 under a current prices order
which limited prices to those prevailing on 2 December 1940.
This move was the beginning of an almost completely comprehensive extension of price control. I t was done, according to the
Minister of Food,
. . . to spike the speculator's guns. Investigation had shown that a swarm
of new middlemen and option buyers were infesting the food trade, who, while
rendering no service to the nation, were profiting out of a market in which they
could not lose money. . . Stabilisation at December levels was only the first
stage of control. . . All the foods comprised in the stabilising Order would come
under maximum price orders during the coming month.*

Retail prices are composed of the first-hand price paid to
growers or to oversea exporters, plus the costs of processing and
distribution. In Chapter II the prices paid to growers of agricultural
products were discussed. In this chapter we shall discuss the additions to growers' prices which determine the level of retail prices.
These additions are the margins received by processors, manufacturers and distributors of all kinds.
1

See Appendix III, table I.
* MINISTRY OF FOOD: Bulletin, No. 68, 10 January 1941.

156

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

Effective control of prices must be preceded in general by
control of supplies (in order to control first-hand prices) and of the
channels of distribution (in order to control distributive margins)
and, in cases of extreme scarcity, by control of demand. We have
seen in Chapters I I I and IV how and to what extent, the British
Government has established control over supply and demand.
Although in wartime prices lose many of their functions and much
of their meaning, they still represent the terms on which money is
exchanged for goods and services, and the retail price of any commodity must therefore bear a relation to the amount of money
people are willing to give for it. I t is frequently alleged that any
analysis in terms of supply and demand is irrelevant for a war
economy. On the contrary, even in wartime, the prices of consumers' goods must bear a relation to the supply of and demand
for these goods. They cannot be arbitrarily fixed. It is quite
possible to set the price of any commodity so high that all units
of the commodity cannot be sold1 or to set it so low that people
form long queues waiting to buy. In most cases it is not desirable
to use prices as the regulator of demand because of the discrimination against low income groups that this involves2, and since prices
cannot be set without reference to the total amount that will be
demanded at any given price it may be necessary to establish
control of demand. On the other hand, the conditions of supply
must be considered, since the price to the producer must furnish
sufficient incentive for him to produce the amount desired. Retail
prices are divorced from supply conditions only when they are
subsidised and demand is controlled by rationing. Prices can,
therefore, be set without reference to supply conditions if the
State is willing to subsidise production, but in no circumstances
can they be set without reference to demand conditions if they
are to perform any distributive function.
Price control must in many cases be preceded by the classification of the commodities concerned into a few standardised grades,
since any price must apply to one commodity or group of commodities sufficiently alike to be sold at the same price, and the
tremendous variation in kinds, qualities and brands common in
peace-time would, if separately priced, so complicate price schedules
as to make them unworkable. Butter, margarine, cuts of bacon
1
This may be assumed to have happened, for example, when the entire ration
of any food universally consumed is not taken up, since the ration is presumably
the amount of t h a t food the Ministry of Food desires to sell, yet because of the
price not all groups can buy their share. The early stages of rationing of meat
and of butter furnished examples of prices set so high t h a t demand and supply
were not balanced.
!
Even with equality of purchasing power, there would be strong reasons
for rationing certain goods. See above, pp. 106-109.

FOOD PRICE CONTROL POLICY

157

and of meat, sausages, jams, canned goods, potatoes, bread and
condensed milk are all subject to regulations classifying them and
standardising each class, partly in some cases to eliminate waste
and inefficient methods of production and distribution, and partly
to simplify price control. ,
The price control regulations applied to chocolate and sugar
confectionery present a good example of the need as well as the
effectiveness of classifying an extremely unstandardised collection
of products. The products were classified into "product groups"
by War Time Associations of the Industry, specially set up by
the Ministry of Food, and maximum prices were set for each
group. The schedule of maximum prices then became quite simple.
It is divided into two parts; the first prescribes a flat maximum
price for all unclassified products and the second prescribes maximum prices for 16 groups. Each retailer is required to display a
ticket over each product showing the maximum prices and the
product group to which it belongs.
An outstanding example of a price control order applying to
unstandardised foodstuffs is the pickles and sauces order, which
prescribes prices for some 200 different items, many of them primarily differentiated by brand only. A considerable amount of the
retailer's time is taken up in searching through the order for the
price of the particular brand of pickled onions or meat sauce
which his customer demands. In peace-time it is not a serious
matter if the retailer charges the "wrong" price, but in wartime
it is a serious and perhaps costly- offence against the Defence
Regulations. 1 It is therefore important that the tables of maximum
prices should be as simple as possible; at best they can never be
very simple, especially when they cover practically all foodstuffs
on the market. Every general food retailer devotes at least six
square feet of wall space to the price notices of the Ministry of
Food.
DETERMINATION OP PRICES

The prices and margins of controlled foods are determined by
the Ministry of Food upon the recommendation of its Margins
Committee. The Trades Union Congress Advisory Committee is
generally consulted when any major increase in prices is contemplated. The prices adopted by the Ministry of Food are in general
maximum prices and are, in principle, fixed at a level which will
1
For example, one retailer said to the writer that she would rather give her
customer a shilling than charge him a halfpenny too much; it would be cheaper
in the long run.

158

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

cover costs of production plus a reasonable profit for producers
and distributors. If the Ministry sells the food directly, it charges,
in principle, a price that will cover cost plus administrative expenses. In practice, costs furnish only the roughest guide for
fixing margins, since consideration must be given to changes in
turnover as a result of the war and to the great variation in costs
between different distributors. Before the war arrangements had
been made for local accountants to investigate the costs of firms
handling foodstuffs in different localities and the Ministry relies
to a large extent on its costing investigations. Margins are set in
the last analysis, however, by bargaining between the interests
concerned and the Ministry of Food, using the pre-war situation
as the basis for the wartime margins as far as possible. Pre-war
margins are examined, and the estimated increases in the trader's
costs are added to them. However, pre-war margins are not always
a guide because of the wide-spread changes caused by the war
in the distributive structure. 1
Distributive margins have been set with the objective of disturbing existing channels of trade as little as possible. This has
sometimes complicated the picture since established channels are
in some cases more tortuous than is necessary. In certain cases,
however, existing trade customs are incompatible with effective
price control. This is often true of the methods of first-hand sale.
For example, if the custom is to sell by auction, e.g., fish, tea,
meat, the problem of allocation is difficult when the price reaches
the maximum, and some modification of existing channels must be
made; or if there is extreme scarcity and producers can easily sell
direct to consumers, as was true of eggs, price control is difficult
without some modification.
The Select Committee on National Expenditure 2 saw "certain
definite disadvantages in the method of fixing margins to be allowed for various operations by a process of bargaining with the
trade interests concerned". It is pointed out that this method
took a large part of the time of important officials which should
have been spent on "constructive planning and administration";
and that it "may fail to provide a foundation for absolute confidence in business circles that there is complete equality of treatment
1
" . . . I think there have been times when we have fixed an excessive
margin, because the circumstances in which business has been carried on since
the war have not always been identical with those existing before the war and
we have had no basis to guide us; for instance, I have already spoken about the
centralising of slaughterhouses, which completely changed the whole character
of the distribution. Therefore, we have not always been able to base ourselves
on pre-war experience." Evidence of Sir Henry French before the Committee
of Public Accounts, in Minutes of Evidence, op. cit., p. 196.
» Fourth Report, op. cit., p. 30.

POOD PRICE CONTROL POLICY

159

in all cases ; and may rather tend to create suspicions that powerful
trade interests or skilful and hard bargainers are likely to obtain
more consideration than others". The Committee accordingly recommended the setting up of a special tribunal to review the
terms accorded the various trades and either confirm them or
require their modification. The Ministry of Food rejected this
proposal, maintaining that
it would constitute a complex form of machinery which would not lighten the
duties of the Ministry of Food and for which no need is felt within the Ministry
and no demand has been made by food traders generally. The circumstances
of each trade are so varied t h a t it is impracticable to lay down an exact formula
in regard to remuneration which can be applied throughout. T h e only basis
which the Ministry has found it possible to work on is t h a t payment should be
made for services rendered and t h a t the quantum of the remuneration should
be ascertained by reference to pre-war experience modified where necessary to
provide for exceptional factors. . . Although there are many different margins
and processing fees concerned, the Ministry has on the whole experienced no
great difficulty in arriving a t agreement by negotiation with the appropriate
trade interests, and the work involved would not be reduced b u t would, it is
felt, be increased by reference to a tribunal. 1

The results of the negotiations with traders are frequently
checked by the costings department of the Ministry and are
subject to the final approval of the Treasury. A co-ordinating
committee has been set up within the Ministry to review each
arrangement before it is passed on for the Treasury's approval.
All the important foods are bought directly by the Ministry of
Food or by licensed importers, wholesalers or processors operating
under controlled prices or margins, with the exception of fresh
fruits and vegetables (other than home-grown apples, lemons,
oranges, bananas, onions, leeks, potatoes, tomatoes and carrots)
and margarine and cooking fats.
All the foods imported or purchased domestically by the Ministry of Food are allocated to wholesalers and retailers on the
basis of a pre-war datum period corrected for population movements
or according to ration requirements. By virtue of its control of
supplies and the channels of distribution, the Ministry of Food
can lay down the margins received by all who handle the controlled
foods.
The most important fact about the Ministry of Food's method
of determining prices and margins is the close co-operation with the
traders that it entails. Whether the Ministry of Food has let the
traders dominate the picture unduly cannot be determined at
1
Memorandum by the Ministry of Food, in Eleventh Report from the Select
Committee on National Expenditure, op. cit., p. 12.

160

POOD CONTROt IN GREAT BRITAIN

present. There are examples of failure to give adequate consideration
to consumers' interests, and in general the assumption that existing
channels of trade should not be upset more than is necessary,
together with the strong representation of traders in the Ministry,
has led to much consideration being given to the traders' interests.
Processing

Margins

Processors' margins are determined by negotiation with the
processors and are checked by costing investigations of the Ministry. As pointed out above, bacon curing is done under licence
and the Ministry specifies methods of production and types of
product as well as the selling prices of the curers. Both imported
and domestic pig carcases are sold to the curers at a price designed
to give them a sufficient curing margin.
Under an agreement made in November 1941 between the
Ministry of Food and the Flour Millers Association, the terms of
remuneration for flour millers were determined for the three years
ending 29 August 1942. The agreement provides that the margin
per sack of flour paid to the millers by the Ministry shall be the
average rate of profit per sack earned by all millers on flour milling
only during a defined pre-war period. There is a provision for a
maximum payment so that the total pre-war profits cannot be
exceeded even though pre-war production is exceeded. Payments
are disbursed through a pool company which represents all sections
of the millers and includes the Co-operative Wholesale Society. 1
Sugar refiners are paid a margin which allows for changes in
overhead costs on different scales of output.
Wholesale

Margins

Wholesale margins may be fixed directly by prescribing specified
additions to the first-hand price. For example, first-hand maximum
prices of soft fruits are fixed, and the wholesaler may add 5 per cent.
for his margin as well as the cost of transport to the buyer's premises. Consequently, the wholesale price varies with the distance
between the wholesaler's and buyer's premises.
The maximum wholesale price of jam is fixed, and the firsthand price is determined by deducting 7 ^ per cent, from the
wholesale price, making the wholesaler's margin a little more than
73^ per cent, of the first-hand price. Under earlier price orders
1

See MINISTRY OP FOOD: Press Notice, No. 1450, 16 November 1941.

POOD PRlCB CONTROL POLICY

161

many prices were "built up"—that is, the maximum price was
calculated from specified additions to basic prices. This procedure
has been abandoned for several foods in recent orders and inclusive
maximum prices prescribed. For example, the wholesale margin
for dried fruits was an addition of 6s. 6d. a cwt. plus transport
charges to the first-hand price. This arrangement was superseded in
January 1942 by fixed maximum prices for three specified groups.
Certain kinds and packages of fruit were given special treatment.
Fruit from one price group may not be mixed with fruit from
another price group except under licence.
This method of fixing wholesale margins through the operation
of maximum first-hand and maximum wholesale prices is the
method applied to most of the controlled foods. The full margin
in these circumstances is not obtained unless the retailer pays the
maximum price. Multiple shops buying first-hand and distributing
from their own warehouses may receive both the wholesale and the
retail margin, although sometimes first-hand prices are set higher
to multiple shops. Multiple shops can, for example, buy butter at
first-hand prices and are thus sometimes able to sell below the
maximum price. 1 Multiple stores in wartime retain for many commodities the advantages they possessed in peace-time of buying
first-hand and thus eliminating the costs of a separate organisation for wholesale distribution.
There is no uniformity in price controls regarding the incidence
of transport charges. Some wholesale prices are set excluding
transport from the quay, wharf or warehouse where the goods are
lying when the sale is made, so that the buyer pays transport
from where the goods are to his premises. Other wholesale prices
include all transport charges except those from the wholesaler's
premises to the buyer's premises. Still other wholesale prices include all transport charges. Wholesale prices of fruit pulp, canned
fruit, honey, jam, lard, lemons, cheese, bacon, goat meat and
horseflesh, canned meat products, canned vegetables, poultry and
hares, for example, include transport charges, while those of
oranges, pepper, most home-grown fruits and vegetables, and
canned fish, exclude them.
The Government bore the costs of fresh fish transport for the
1
At the May 1940 meeting of the Newport Grocers' Association the Secretary
explained to the Association, which had complained of multiple shops selling
cheaper, that "For years past the multiple shops had sold butter at lower prices
and this policy had recently been publicly declared. It was not a wartime problem.
These people bought at first-hand price. The butter was taken into their own
warehouses and packed by them, and the handling and transport costs were
borne by them. There the multiples had a case for the services which they rendered. The Government would not step in to make conditions as between one
retailer and another." The Grocer, 11 May 1941.

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FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

first three months after the introduction of the fish scheme, thus
assisting in overcoming local scarcities due to transport costs. 1
Later a levy was placed on the first-hand sales of fish landed to
provide a fund to meet transport charges on fish and thus prevent
them from interfering with wide distribution. The levy was originally collected from those who sold the fish first-hand, and the
maximum prices were raised by the amount of the levy to prevent
it from being passed on to the fishing crews. Owners were not
allowed to deduct the levy from the price when they settled with
the men. The owners strongly objected to this arrangement, and
at the end of December 1941 the levy was transferred from the
first-hand seller to the first-hand buyer and maximum prices were
reduced by 6d. a stone.
Where costs of transport are apt to prevent commodities
from being sent to the more distant areas, additions are allowed
to the wholesale price in specified areas. Thus maximum prices
of rabbits, hares and poultry are higher in certain areas. An
attempt was made to influence the distribution of eggs by offering
higher prices for eggs sold to the packing stations, but it failed as
a result of the acute shortage. The Government itself bears the
cost of transporting meat. Additional transport charges of feeding
stuffs due to ships coming in at unexpected ports are met by a
pool fund raised on other feeding stuffs.
Bacon margins vary with the transport distance. Wholesalers
sell at fixed prices, and a system of rebates and charges results in
primary wholesalers receiving smaller margins on sales to secondary
wholesalers and multiple shops. The latter receive more than the
retail margin because they handle bacon at their own depots.
Thus the gross margin on wholesale sales depends on the channels
of distribution through which the bacon passes—whether from
wholesaler to nominated or to non-nominated secondary wholesaler, multiple shop or retail shop.
Retail

Margins

Retailers' margins are either fixed directly by allowing specified
additions to the wholesale price or by means of fixed maximum
selling prices. Retailers subject to maximum price orders may
sell under the maximum price. Since this price is set not only
to cover the cost of the least efficient method of distribution but
also of the most expensive circumstances in which the food is dis1
This represented a subsidy to the industry of some £2,000,000 a year. See
statement of the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food, in Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, 11 November 1941, Vol. 374, col. 2101.

FOOD PRICE CONTROL POLICY

163

tributed, it naturally allows higher profits to the more efficient
and better-placed distributors, who may, if they wish, sell at a
lower price. 1 Not very many products, however, are sold below
the maximum price. Retail maximum prices do not apply to sales
by catering establishments as part of a meal. If the wholesale prices
do not include transport costs and no special provision is made
for them, as for fish and meat, the retailer must bear the cost. If
the cost of transport is paid by the retailer there is no incentive
for the wholesaler to sell locally. There appears to be some tendency
to compensate retailers for reduced turnover by allowing higher
margins.
The retail prices of margarine are not fixed by order, but the
Ministry of Food has an agreement with the producers and prices
are marked on the wrappers, which ensures that retailers will not
sell at higher prices. A profit is made on the sale of the higherpriced brand of margarine and is used to subsidise the cheaper
brand. The price of the cheaper brand would have to be raised if the
special brand were withdrawn. Until January 1941, when the
meat content of all sausages was made uniform, this same technique was applied to hold down the price of the sausages with
lower meat content. There are two maximum prices for coffee,
and the retailer may sell at the higher price if he has coffee available and on display at the lower price.
Retail bread prices are lower after two years of war than they
were at the outbreak of war. Wheat overseas is abundant and has
been bought in large quantities by the Ministry of Food. Furthermore, both bread and flour are subsidised. Shortly after the outbreak of war the Government adopted the policy of selling wheat
to millers at a price below that at which it bought the wheat, thus
subsidising the price of flour. Approximately 40 per cent, of the
flour produced is used for other purposes than bread, and therefore a considerable proportion of the total subsidy thus given to
flour was not devoted to bread. In December 1940 a direct bread
subsidy was announced to run for three months, and it was later
extended, continuing to 6 October 1941. Bakers were demanding
an increased price for bread to cover rising costs, which the investigations of the Director of Costings in the Ministry of Food
showed to be justified. To prevent this rise in the retail price of
bread the Ministry gave a rebate of 4s. a sack on the price of flour
to bakers selling bread at 8d. per quartern (4 lb.) loaf or less. To
qualify for the subsidy, bakers were required to have National
1
"We do attach great importance to the principle of a maximum price,
which means that . . . there is a chance of underselling . . . " Evidence of Sir
Henry French before the Committee of Public Accounts, Minutes of Evidence,
op. cit., p. 197.

Í64

FOOD CÓNTRO!, IN ÓRE AT ÉRÍTAÍÑ

Wheatmeal Bread on sale at or below the prices of subsidised
white-flour loaves of the same weight. The subsidy was equivalent
to a reduction of J^d. per quartern on bread. In February 1941 an
order was issued freezing bread prices at the level existing on 2
December 1940. In October 1941 part of the subsidy on flour was
transferred directly to flour for bread making and the price of
flour was raised from 25s. 6d. to 33s. 3d. per sack of 280 pounds,
but the price of bread was lowered to 8d. a quartern as a result
of the additional subsidy. In sparsely populated rural areas or in
areas where the population has been reduced by more than 40
per cent, bakers may apply for a licence permitting them to sell
bread by retail at higher prices.
Retail milk prices are based upon permitted increases over
the 1938-9 prices of each retailer with the exception of the milk
supplied under the National Milk Scheme. Before the war, retail
prices were set by the Milk Marketing Boards, which still prescribe
minimum prices, while the Ministry of Food prescribes maximum
increases over the pre-war level. Prices vary in the different
regions of the country, and consequently formal maximum price
schedules would be extremely complicated. Tuberculin-tested and
accredited milk sells at a higher price than ordinary and pasteurised
milk. 1
ENFORCEMENT

Violations of food orders are offences against the Defence
Regulations and up to 17 December 1941 were liable, under Regulation 92, to a maximum penalty of £100 or imprisonment not exceeding three months, or both, in a court of summary jurisdiction,
and in a higher court to imprisonment for a term not exceeding
two years, or a fine of £500, or both. In December 1941 the regulations were stiffened. The new regulations provide for a maximum
fine in a court of summary jurisdiction of £100 plus a sum equal
to three times the value of the goods sold. This step was taken
because a few large-scale dealers in the black market were making
such high profits that a paltry £100 fine was no deterrent. The
new provision adding three times the value of, not profit on, the
goods sold means, for example, that a man who offers goods at
£1,500 when the legal price would be £ 1,000 is subject to a fine
of £4,600 in the lower courts. In addition, the authorities are empowered to seize goods on suspicion and if necessary to sell them
at controlled prices, the profits from the sale being held for the
owner if not convicted or to apply to his fine if he is convicted.
1

For an extensive discussion of milk distribution and prices, see above, pp. 82-86.

tfOOÒ PRÍCE COfcTROt POIJCV

Í65

In March 1942 additional penalties were authorised in response
to an increased demand from the press and from Parliament that
the black market operators be dealt with more severely. Magistrates are now required to fine the "black marketeer" a sum equal
to the amount by which he benefited from the transaction. This
is the minimum fine; the maximum fine is an addition of three
times the value of the goods sold. Furthermore, twelve months'
imprisonment can now be imposed by the lower courts and fourteen years' penal servitude by the higher courts.
The Ministry of Food has, in addition, the power to remove
the trading licences of the violators of food orders. This power
had not been widely exercised up to August 1941, when it was
decided to use it more ruthlessly* and to extend the scope of licensing by the Ministry. 2 Early in 1941 the Food Price Investigation
Committee of the North Midland Region urged the extension and
tightening of the licensing system and maintained " t h a t the adoption of the committee's suggestion that traders be licensed, subject
to such licence being revoked, would have far more effect in preventing breaches of the law than any number of prosecutions".*
The London and Liverpool Chambers of Commerce expressed a
similar request in a letter to the Ministry of Food in July 1941 :
While we are quite in favour of the introduction of maximum prices orders,
where appropriate, we are unable to agree t h a t this method, by itself, is proving
effective in preventing speculation; it is, in fact, creating a black market. T h e
interloper, of whom we have complained, cannot live in competition with the
legitimate trader while selling a t the maximum prices fixed under the orders,
b u t so long as he is permitted, legally, to acquire foodstuffs he will continue to
find ways and means to dispose of them a t prices in excess of the orders.
T h e problem of control would become manageable if those whose whole
livelihood depended upon retaining their licences and their good name were
alone permitted to buy and sell foodstuffs. Maximum prices orders could then
be made really effective. . .
T h e two Chambers are a t a loss to understand the grounds upon which t h e
Ministry are unwilling to take this further step to eliminate from the food trade
—which is the most vitally important of all—the intervention of speculators who
1
"Since the outbreak of war it has not been the practice to revoke to any
considerable extent licences which have been issued to traders in foodstuffs. I t
has, however, now been decided t h a t further steps must be taken to ensure t h a t
the provisions of maximum price and rationing orders were obeyed. Practically
all important foodstuffs with t h e exception of certain perishable and luxury
articles, are the subject of price control and, with a view to ensuring t h a t the
provisions of all orders will be carried out, my Noble Friend has decided t h a t
in future the licence shall be withdrawn from any trader, whether wholesaler or
retailer, who is guilty of conduct which renders him an unsuitable link in the
chain of distribution. This will come into operation as from 15th August."
Statement of the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food, 6 August
1941, in Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons,,Vol. 373, col. 1949.
s
See pp. 70-72 .
• Manchester Guardian, 14 June 1941.

166

tfOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

are not members of the trade, have no reputation or good will in the trade to
maintain, are rendering no service, and are intervening for the sole purpose of
holding the community to ransom. 1

Since the adoption of this policy in August 1941 a considerable
number of licences have been revoked, and it is reasonable to
assume that the policy will assist in deterring dealers from violating
the laws.
Adequate enforcement of the great variety of food orders in
all their bewildering detail, and effective control over the thousands
of consumers, retailers, wholesalers, first-hand sellers, brokers
and other dealers, could not possibly be obtained solely by means
of the legal powers of the Ministry of Food and the courts. 2 The
co-operation of the traders is the deciding factor, and many of the
better organised trades police their own members. The Ministry
of Food, as has been seen, works hard to obtain the good will of
the traders, and for the most part the traders strive to obtain the
good will of the Ministry of Food. 3 It is chiefly for this reason that
legal powers to secure observance of the food orders have not had
to be invoked on a large scale. 4 The Ministry maintains, of course, a
staff of investigators and inspectors. In October 1941 there were 805
Enforcement Inspectors employed by the Ministry of Food in the
United Kingdom.
. . Most of the retail maximum price orders require every retailer
to display a notice clearly visible at all times to customers showing
the maximum prices of the foods concerned. 6 Purchasers are equally
guilty with the retailers if the maximum price orders are violated.
Wholesalers, manufacturers, processors and others who figure in
the distributive chain are generally required to keep accurate
1

The Times, 14 July 1941.
In his discussion of food control in the 1914-18 war, E. M. H. Lloyd remarks:
"If maximum prices had had to depend for their enforcement merely on Orders
of the Food Controller and on prosecutions in the courts, they would have been
laughed out of existence in a week." E. M. H. LLOYD: op. cit., p. 287.
3
" . . . Lord Woolton had made it perfectly clear t o t h e trade t h a t he intended to provide cheaper food for the poorer people and t h a t he meant to do
this by working on grocers' average prices. The Government had all the necessary
data before them and knew the prices being charged by the average trader.
The Federation had been fighting all along for fair profits and the Government
were now seeing to it t h a t traders kept within the law. They must all be very
careful not to get the Food Controllers up against them. If they show t h a t they
are trying to act in conformity with regulations imposed they would fare better
in the long r u n . " Statement made a t the May meeting of the Leicester and District Grocers' Association, as reported in The Grocer, 11 May 1940, p. 35.
4
I t is, however, necessary to possess these legal powers and to make statutory
regulations controlling prices. In a few cases, the Ministry of Food has tried to
check prices by announcing a "fair" price and requesting consumers not to pay
more. This method has not been successful, and statutory regulation has proved
necessary in all cases.
6
Since 7 April 1942 retailers have not been required to display separate price
notices. They must, however, indicate prominently t h a t a maximum price list
is available for inspection.
2

POOD PRICE CONTROL POLICY

167

records of their dealings in the controlled foods. These records
must show the persons from whom the food is bought and to whom
it is sold and particulars of quantity, description and prices charged
and all additions to the maximum price allowed under the regulations. These records are open to the inspectors of the Ministry
of Food.
Investigation of the prices being charged for uncontrolled
foods was more important earlier in the war than it is now, since
the uncontrolled foods at present are very few. Arrangements
were made in 1940 with the Board of Trade for its local Price
Regulation Committees to become Food Price Investigation Committees and to investigate the prices of uncontrolled foods. Excessive prices were reported to the Ministry of Food. If, after investigation, price control was found to be desirable, a recommendation was submitted to the Central Price Regulation Committee, set
up under the Price of Goods Act, 1939, and the Goods and Services
(Price Control) Act, 1941. In addition, in November 1940 the
Minister of Food arranged with several trade associations 1 to
create their own committees for the investigation of alleged excess
prices being charged for packed and canned goods. When the
investigations of the Ministry showed the need for price control,
maximum price orders were issued where practicable.
Not until 1941 did the Ministry of Food begin to control the
prices of so-called "luxury" foods on a large scale. 2 Exorbitant
prices for this kind of food became so common, and public protest
so vehement, however, that the Ministry finally decided to bring
these prices under control, and during 1941 one uncontrolled food
after another was brought under control. Appendix VI gives a
list of the controlled foods as on 8 January 1942 and the stages at
which prices are controlled. Over eighty foods or groups of foods
are listed.
The Ministry of Food publishes monthly figures of prosecutions for violations of food orders. Until the middle of 1940 prosecutions were well under 1,000 a month. They have risen gradually
since then and in 1941 were under 2,000 in February only, reaching
1
The Food Manufacturers' Federation, the National Federation of Grocers'
Associations, the Multiple Grocers' Association, The Retail Distributors' Association, the Parliamentary Committee of the Co-operative Congress, the National
Federation of Wholesale Grocers' Associations, the Wholesale Distributors'
Association and the North of England Wholesale Grocers, Inc. See MINISTRY OF
FOOD: Press Notice, No. 653, 24 November 1940.
* "My Noble Friend does not consider it desirable to fix maximum prices for
semi-luxury articles such as turkeys and geese. In order, however, to give a
guide to the consumer, he has issued a notice stating the maximum retail prices
for turkeys which he would regard as reasonable at the peak of the Christmas
trade, and which should not be exceeded." Statement of the Parliamentary
Secretary to the Ministry of Food, in Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons,
7 December 1940, Vol. 367, col. 684.

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POOD CONTROI, IN GREAT BRITAIN

a peak in October of 3,130. The total number of prosecutions from
October 1939 to the end of October 1941 amounted to 34,572, of
which 92.6 per cent, were successful. Only 183 of these prosecutions
dealt with people who had previously been prosecuted. In December 1941 successful prosecutions were divided among the different
offences as follows:
Offences against maximum price orders
Supplying or obtaining foodstuffs without correct
authority
Failure to display prices
False declarations
Trading without licence
Illegal slaughter, etc
Imposing conditions of sale
Other
Total

727
828
191
351
96
57
19
483
2,752

Source: MINISTRY OÏ FOOD: Press Notice. No. 1621, 3 January 1942.

Offences against the maximum price orders were the second
most numerous category. The following figures were given in
October 1941 analysing the prosecutions and penalties imposed
since the beginning of control for this type of offence. Total prosecutions were 8,486, of which 7,751 were successful.
Number
of cases

Fines

Under £1 and dismissals under the Probation of
Offenders Act
£1 and under £3
£3 and under £5
£5 and under £10
£10 and under £20
£20 and over
•

2,513
2,880
692
1,004
436
217

Imprisonment

Varying terms

9
Total

7,751

Source: Statement of the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food, in Parliamentary
Debates, House of Commons, 16 October 1941, Vol. 374, col. 1524.

Seventy per cent, of the penalties were fines of less than £3
and were therefore presumably imposed for minor offences, some
of which may easily have been inadvertent, since a small mistake
of a clerk as to price may lead to a prosecution. I t is true that
there are a number of traders who deal regularly in the "black
market" and who are serious offenders. Furthermore, large numbers
of offenders probably escape detection—what percentage it is of

FOOD PRICE CONTROL POLICY

169

course impossible to say. Whether the steadily increasing number
of prosecutions results from better methods of detection or from
the greater complexity and multiplicity of food orders, or simply
from an increasing rate of violations, it is also impossible to say;
most probably it is due to the combination of all these factors.
But there is reason to believe that the Minister of Food was substantially correct when he said:
. . . we are, I think, fortunate in having in this country a high standard of
commercial morality, and it is patently unjust that those who, both from pride
in their own business standards and from a patriotic desire to carry out the
wishes of the Government, should find themselves placed at a commercial disadvantage with regard to their competitors whose standards are lower and
below the standard of the law.1

Black market operations present a welcome opportunity for
sensational journalism and are frequently given importance far
beyond their real significance when viewed against the background
of control as a whole. They do, however, take up a considerable
amount of the time of officials of the Ministry. 2 In some areas, in
some commodities and at some times, illegal transactions do
attain considerable importance. Canned foods, for example, provided a lucrative "racket" for some traders before they were
brought under control, and illegal dealings in sugar were one of
the reasons for controlling the chocolate and sugar confectionery
trades. Alternative uses for a particular food, of which one is more
profitable than the other, will furnish an incentive to evade price
regulations in order to tap the more lucrative market. So long as
confectionery was uncontrolled the temptation to manufacturers
to offer high prices for sugar was great. Unscrupulous managers
of office and factory canteens would claim sugar rations for more
employees than they actually catered for and sell the extra sugar
to manufacturers at high prices. On the other hand, holders of
illicit sugar would sometimes sell at a loss in return for supplies
of sweets which they could buy at factory prices and retail at a
big profit. 8
Cases of outright stealing of large quantities of food from docks,
warehouses and railway yards have also occurred. Although these
are sufficiently sensational to receive considerable notice in the
Press they are not so important as the space allotted them would
imply.
1
8

Parliamentary Debates, House of Lords, 17 December 1941, Vol. 121, col. 316.
"We have had to spend much time trying to circumvent the scoundrels
operating on the 'black market' and have met with some success. We have made
life more difficult for them and some are having a diet in Wormwood Scrubs."
Lord Woolton, as reported in the Daily Telegraph, 7 January 1942. ("Wormwood
Scrubs" is a noted English prison.)
* Daily Telegraph, 12 December 1941.

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FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

Speculation is one of the chief evils of the black market, and
title to goods sometimes changes hands several times before final
disposal. The Chairman of the Food Price Investigation Committee of the North Midlands region stated in January 1941:
Speculation is rampant; goods are changing ownership many times like stocks
and shares without even leaving the warehouse; people who render no service
in distribution are enriching themselves at the expense of the consumer; prices
to the public have in consequence risen out of all reasonable proportion, and
contributed considerably to an increase in the cost of living, with inevitable
discontent.1

A large number of the complaints investigated by this committee referred to canned goods, which were later controlled.
As mentioned above, the prices of foods sold as part of a meal
in catering establishments are not controlled. There is therefore
a tendency for the catering establishments, especially those catering
for the higher income groups, to buy up the uncontrolled foods at
high prices. The prices of meals in most establishments have
risen markedly as a result of increased costs, and the choice of food
is very small compared with the pre-war choice. It was necessary,
in order to prevent catering establishments from paying retail
prices at first-hand sales and thus obtaining an advantage over
retailers, whose selling price is controlled and who would be unable
to handle the foods if no margin between the wholesale and retail
prices were possible, to prohibit the purchase or sale of more than
five dozen eggs in any one week at a price exceeding the maximum
wholesale price and to insert in the poultry maximum prices order
a provision to the effect that any sale by auction at which a person
buys more than two birds for purposes other than resale shall be
deemed to be a wholesale sale and subject to the maximum wholesale price. In April 1942 announcement was made of an impending
decision to extend price control to the prices of meals served in
catering establishments.

i The Times, 5 January 1941.

CHAPTER VI
CONCLUSION

The purpose of food control in wartime is first to obtain an even
and adequate flow of food into the channels of distribution and
secondly to distribute these foods equitably to all individuals and
to all classes in the community. The task is immense and the pitfalls
many, but on the whole British food control has been successful
in accomplishing these ends. Mistakes have been made and more
will be made, but mistakes as well as successes are not without
their lesson for the future. The mistakes and successes discussed
in the following pages illustrate many principles important for the
successful administration of food control. Most striking perhaps
is the number of things generally considered administratively impracticable which, when attempted, have proved extraordinarily
successful. The first requisite of any Minister of Food is courage.
Secondly the early realisation that the consumer is the raison
d'être of food control should be kept in the forefront of food policy.
From this it follows that plans for the creation of food controls
must treat demand on a plane of equality with supply; information
must be collected on what people eat, what they should eat, and
what changes can be made with the minimum of public discontent.
It is nutritionally absurd, to be sure, but in Great Britain supplies
of tea and jam must be safeguarded as much as those of cheese.
Public taste cannot be ignored. 1
The problems of food control may be classified under five
headings: (1) general administrative policy; (2) control of supplies
and distribution; (3) control of demand; (4) control of prices; and
(5) nutrition and education.. In addition the relation of food policy
to general economic policy must be considered.
1
Public taste was also one of the chief reasons for not making wheatmeal
bread compulsory. It is not conclusively proved, however, that morale would
be lowered by sacrifices of this nature if they helped the war effort and if people
were convinced that they did. The Government in this and in other fields has
perhaps been too timid in demanding sacrifices of the people which they would
willingly give if asked,

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FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN
GENERAL ADMINISTRATIVE POLICY

In Great Britain the formation of food and agricultural policy
is centralised, its administration and enforcement decentralised. 1
The Food Executive Officers of the local food control committees
have a large measure of control over the administration of food
policy in their areas. County agriculture committees have been
delegated wide powers of control over agricultural activities.
These local bodies are the agents of the Ministries of Food and
Agriculture and carry out their orders. They are responsible for
the translation of policy into practice. The work of the Food
Executive Officers is concerned primarily with consumers, catering
establishments and retailers, since a large number of the food
manufacturing, importing and wholesale firms are of a national
character and cannot be controlled locally.
A more controversial administrative principle is the maintenance, as far as is practicable, of the existing channels of trade
and the use of trade personnel in executive positions in the food
controls. These practices arise out of the need for obtaining the cooperation and experience of the trade in the administration of
food control, but they give rise to some criticism from the public
and sometimes from sections of industry who feel themselves
treated badly. The policy of the British Government in this, as in
other controls, has been to interfere with existing interests only
when necessary and not to introduce changes for the sake of social
reform, but only when they are necessary for the efficiency of the
war effort. The exigencies of war—especially the increased demand
for labour—force extensive changes, but these changes, with some
notable exceptions, are adopted slowly in the food trades; for the
most part extensive reorganisation to improve the efficiency of
distribution has not taken place except as the result of necessity.
The policy of the Ministry of Food in this respect is only a reflection
of the general Government policy of refusing to make social changes
in wartime unless they are required for war purposes. It is important, therefore, in discussing this aspect of food policy to
remember that it is part of a general policy for which the Ministry
of Food is not solely responsible. There is much to be said for and
against the policy of making general reforms in wartime, but the
burdens of war should be distributed as equitably as possible and
the perpetuation of waste during wartime simply because it existed
in peace-time helps neither the war effort nor the winning of the
1
The separation of the Ministry of Agriculture from the Ministry of Food
has complicated British food control, and it is almost universally agreed that a
single body concerned with all aspects of food policy would be infinitely preferable if it were politically possible.

CONCLUSION

173

peace. On the other hand, changes that will dislocate existing
methods of production and distribution without immediately creating effective new methods are not practicable in wartime.
The use of trade executives in positions of control over the
trades from which they are drawn is similarly a hotly debated
question. That men who are experienced in handling the problems
of production and distribution are indispensable to the Government in establishing control over these spheres cannot be denied.
Trade officials may be used widely for advisory purposes or they
may be used in an executive capacity in controls affecting trades
other than those from which they were drawn. In Great Britain,
however, trade officials have executive authority in controls
affecting the trades from which they were drawn and they have
much influence.
Perhaps the most that can be said is that great care should
be taken to prevent these officials either deliberately or as a result
of unconscious bias both from giving special advantages to the
section of industry from which they come and from administering
control in the interests of producers and distributors rather than of
consumers. 1
CONTROL OF SUPPLIES AND DISTRIBUTION

Control of supplies and distribution is more easily applied
and more likely to be effective if it is introduced before shortages
occur and prices begin to get out of hand. Furthermore, control
of only the so-called basic foods is not enough. On the surface it
might seem that control should be started with these foods and
only applied to other foods when it becomes urgently needed.
This procedure was generally followed in Great Britain, largely
for administrative reasons but partly as a matter of policy. It
had three undesirable results.
In the first place it caused much public discontent, since the
majority of the population is not willing to be restricted by its
limited purchasing power to a few "basic" foods while high income
groups can consume a much greater variety. In the second place
it gave rise to extreme profiteering which because of its sensational
character not only gave food control a bad reputation but also
' ' "The only real public safeguard against abuses is that these men should
increasingly feel a loyalty to the public interest which transcends their loyalty
to their firms, and that has undoubtedly been happening. Anyone who wishes to
see monopoly capitalism transformed into Socialism must welcome this as a
desirable and essential step in the process. . . "
P. Lamartine YATES: "The
Ministries of Food and Agriculture", in Political Quarterly, July-September 1941,
p. 258.

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FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

encouraged evasion of food regulations : for example, the attaching
of conditions of sale. The atmosphere created by uncontrolled
trading in a large number of foods in short supply is not conducive
to public respect for food control. In the third place, the delay in
applying control made the task much more difficult when it was
finally tackled. Control should be applied very early to all important foods likely to become scarce. There are, of course, a few
foods that can safely be ignored.
Control of supplies may be obtained either through direct
purchase by the Ministry of Food or through the licensing of firsthand buyers. Control of distribution may be acquired by licensing
traders, by employing traders as agents or by setting up a new
trading organisation. British experience demonstrates the importance of licensing at a very early stage all traders dealing in
foods controlled in any manner. If traders are licensed, speculation
is easier to control and the enforcement of other regulations, such
as the keeping of records, is simpler. The possibility of losing his
licence to trade is a strong deterrent to a trader. Control of traders
is easier if the assistance of some authoritative organisation representing the traders concerned can be obtained and if the policy
proposed is accepted and approved by such an organisation. This
does not mean, however, that policies not so approved should not
be adopted if they are in the public interest. Trade associations
can be especially useful in the work of standardising and classifying
commodities which is necessary for applying control.
CONTROL OF DEMAND

Control of demand for any important food in short supply is
necessary if the distribution of the food is to be regulated. It can
be obtained for particular foods only by requiring some form of
authorisation for their purchase. Rationing is desirable not only
because it reduces the effects of unequal income distribution and
unequal shopping opportunities but also because it can be used
to reserve a fair share of nutritionally important foods for all consumers, thus encouraging each to buy his share.
Control of demand, like control of supplies and distribution,
should be established early before shortages have arisen. If the
existence of shortages and impending control are announced,
hoarding will be encouraged if the food is not perishable. This may
have disastrous effects on stocks and in addition it favours the
higher-income consumers since they can afford to buy larger
quantities than other consumers. When the continuous flow of
supplies is precarious, stocks must be jealously guarded. A pro-

CONCLUSION

175

hibition of retail sales may accompany an announcement of impending control if the food is not perishable and if it is not a daily
necessity.
There appears to be little objection to frequent changes in the
size of the ration in so far as they are administratively practicable.
The ration may be changed not only by varying the quantity included in it but also by altering the definition. For example,
"meat" may or may not include offals, pork, rabbits, etc., and
"bacon" may be defined to include or exclude a large number of
items coming under the general term.
The question whether special rations should be given to different groups of workers has been debated widely in Great Britain.
Since it is difficult to classify workers according to the nature of
their work, individual workers are not given special rations based
upon whether their work is light or heavy. Increased supplies of
certain foods, however, are directed to canteens and restaurants
primarily serving industrial workers. Canteen facilities cannot be
provided for some classes of workers because of the nature of their
work, and special cheese rations are granted to them and to vegetarians. Children receive a smaller ration of meat than adults,
and persons suffering from certain diseases receive extra rations
appropriate to their illness.
Effective demand can also be regulated by requiring consumers
to register for certain foods and by announcing a minimum quantity
of each foo'd to be distributed to each registered person. Although
not formally a ration, this procedure has a similar effect and is
considerably more flexible, especially if retailers are allowed to
distribute their surplus freely. This method of distribution is
especially useful for foods of which the supply fluctuates greatly,
e.g. milk and eggs, and for which therefore a statutory ration
would be difficult to administer. ' A formal ration once imposed
should always be met if it is to be effective in eliminating queues,
and should not result in an undue amount of waste. These requirements would be difficult to fulfil for milk and fresh eggs, and the
registration system serves as a reasonably efficient alternative to
regulate distribution. The amount of milk or of eggs allowed to
registered consumers is announced so that the consumer knows
what to expect.
Considerable imagination has been displayed by the Ministry
of Food in the administration of rationing. Four general types of
rationing are used for the civilian population: ordinary rationing
of a fixed amount in a fixed period for each person; rationing of
a fixed amount in any proportions of a group of foods—e.g. jam,
syrup, treacle—and as a variation of this the butter-margarine

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POOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

ration, which prescribes a maximum amount of butter; rationing
of a group of foods on a "points" basis, which allows the consumer
freedom of choice in spending his points within the ration ; and the
registration system described above. In addition small amounts of
other foods are issued at irregular intervals either against the
ration registrations for a particular food or against particular
ration documents—e.g. suet against the fat ration and dried fruits
against the sugar ration at Christmas and oranges against the
child's ration book.
In most cases it is desirable to "tie" consumers to particular
retailers (whom they may choose in the first instance) and to
require retailers and wholesalers to "nominate" suppliers in order
to facilitate distribution. However, this is not always necessary,
and in Great Britain consumers are able to buy both tea and
rationed canned foods from any retailer.
CONTROL OF PRICES

Price control has two aspects—determination of prices and
enforcement of prices. The former requires a compromise between
estimated costs of production and distribution and the demands
of producers and distributors. The incentive function of prices
cannot be ignored, but it is probably more necessary in agriculture
than in industry, since direct controls can be applied more effectively in industry than in agriculture. The importance' of the influence of relative prices on agricultural output has already been
demonstrated in Great Britain and has therefore been made a
basic part of agricultural policy.
Prices to the farmers are high, but it is almost impossible to
say whether they are higher than is necessary to obtain the output
wanted. A large increase in output has resulted in a steep rise of
marginal costs which must be covered by the prices offered. Whether prices have risen faster or higher than marginal costs is impossible to determine under existing conditions. The necessity of
keeping relative prices in delicate balance, however, may force the
general level of agricultural prices up since the price of each product
is fixed by trial and error to a large extent and by bargaining with
the farmers. This may, and frequently does, result in a price that
encourages farmers to shift to the production of the crop concerned at the expense of others the production of which is equally
or more important. I t then becomes necessary either to lower the
price concerned or to raise the other prices. Since it is more difficult
to reduce prices than to raise them, the result frequently is an
enhanced price for all products. There is reason to believe that

CONCLUSION

177

this process has had some effect in raising the general level of agricultural prices in Great Britain somewhat above the level necessary
to obtain the output actually produced. In addition, arguments
for higher prices based on the alleged unprofitability of, and shortage of capital in, agriculture in the past are very common. It seems
likely that agricultural prices have risen more than agricultural
costs, but the pressure for still higher prices is great.
To keep the higher agricultural prices and the higher costs of
imports from raising retail prices of certain foods the Government
has resorted to extensive subsidies. These have been confined to the
most important foods—milk, eggs, meat, bread, potatoes, tea,
and cod-liver oil, orange juice and black currant puree and juice
for children. It is important that if a food is subsidised it should be
subsidised enough to keep the price within the reach of the lower
income groups. It is a waste of public funds to pay large sums to
reduce the price of food which even after the subsidy is only available to the relatively higher income groups. Low income groups
are generally hit by the standardisation of foods necessary for
applying price control and rationing because standardisation
generally results in the elimination of the low-priced brands as
well as the high-priced brands, thus raising the average price to
lower income groups who previously bought the cheaper qualities.
The "price stop" is useful as a preliminary measure, but if costs
are increasing price changes will have to be made and most price
stop orders will have to be followed by maximum price orders.
The Ministry of Food in Great Britain has on several occasions
frozen prices at levels prevailing earlier, in order to embarrass
speculators.
The enforcement of maximum prices requires the co-operation of traders and consumers as well as the possession of legal
powers to fine and imprison violators. If supplies are short however,
the Government must have control of supplies and especially of
the channels of distribution to make control effective—this has
been conclusively demonstrated by the experience of Great
Britain. In Great Britain traders are required to keep records of
their dealings in controlled foods, which are open to the Ministry
of Food, and all traders dealing in controlled foods are licensed.
The licensing of traders has been found indispensable for the enforcement of food regulation. Retailers are generally required to
display prominently a notice giving the legal maximum prices for
the foods they sell.
British experience has shown that a fine of £100 ($400) in a
court of summary jurisdiction is inadequate to deter large-scale

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POOD CONTROL ÎN GREAT BRÍTAÍN

dealers in the black market since their profits are high, and the
Government found it necessary to increase the fine to £100 plus
three times the value of the goods sold, thus effectively confiscating all profits. Before this measure was enacted a few dealers
would make profits of several thousand pounds, pay their fine if
caught, and remain better off than they were before. A fine imposed for black-market trading that does not bear a close relation
to the size of the operation has little deterrent effect.
Trade association can be useful in assisting in the enforcement
of food regulations and in drawing up schemes for their respective
trades but they must be carefully supervised by Government
representatives to protect the interests of consumers. The importance of obtaining the good will of traders must not be underestimated.
NUTRITION AND EDUCATION

The nutritional condition of the people is an important factor
for both morale and efficiency, and the Government's responsibility
does not stop short of actual measures to improve nutrition. In
Great Britain four methods have been adopted for this purpose
besides the measures taken to keep down prices and increase
supplies of the important foods.
The most important of these methods is the milk distribution
scheme, whereby mothers and children are given a prior claim on
the supply of milk and receive it at a reduced price; if the family
income is low they receive it free. Allied to this is extension of the
pre-war milk-in-schools and school-feeding program, which ensures
better nutrition for the children benefiting under it. Secondly
cod-liver oil, orange juice and black currant juice or puree are
supplied free to young children. The third group of measures for
improving nutrition includes the addition of vitamins A and D
to margarine and of Bi to bread, as well as the attempt to increase
the consumption of wheatmeal.
Finally the Ministry of Food is conducting an educational campaign among consumers stressing the nutritional value of different
foods and the needs of the body and instructing housewives in
the best method of preparing foods. Consumers' education along
these lines is of particular importance in wartima when food supplies
are restricted.
Advertising is a powerful arm of food policy but must be used
with caution, and the intelligence of the people must not be underrated. The Ministry of Food in Great Britain has rightly stressed
the value of those foods of which supplies are abundant but has
tended to stress them to such an extent that the impression is

rjONCtuáiON

m

sometimes given that these foods are sufficient for an adequate
diet. The emphasis placed on advertising the value of any food
has sometimes tended to vary with the supply. The consumer has
naturally become suspicious and the value of the Ministry's propaganda has been impaired.
British experience has demonstrated the importance of explaining the economics of food control to consumers—especially
the effect of price control on distribution and the apparent tendency
for commodities to disappear from the market as soon as maximum
prices are imposed.
FOOD CONTROL AND THE W A R ECONOMY

Food policy must be formed with reference to the rest of the
national economy and within the limits of supply imposed by the
needs of the other sectors of the economy—especially as regards
labour and transport. In Great Britain, however, food policy has
been operated to increase the supply of labour by freeing large
numbers of women from the necessity of cooking a mid-day meal.
The extension of school meals, factory canteens and other
communal feeding centres results in a more economical use of
food, fuel and labour, improves in many cases the mid-day meal
for thousands of workers, children and others and frees many
women for work in industry. It has proved extremely successful
in Great Britain and the demand for additional facilities has not
nearly been satisfied. The provision of factory canteens is compulsory for large employers. The Ministry of Food in co-operation
with the Ministry of Labour and other bodies is endeavouring to
increase the number of canteens and other communal feeding
facilities for miners, rural areas, schools, small and large factories,
docks and white collar workers—wherever people are congregated.
Meals provided in communal feeding centres are in addition
to the ration and canteens for certain types of workers receiving
extra rations of certain foods. Communal feeding is one of the
most notable war measures adopted in Great Britain, and when
good and cheap centres are available to all groups of the population it will not only result in a more economic utilisation of food
supplies and in the freeing of thousands of housewives but it will
also be a great advance in human welfare.
POST-WAR IMPLICATIONS

The discussion of British food and agricultural policy contained in this study, though concerned entirely with wartime
developments, is not without relevance for post-war conditions

180

FOOD CONTROL ÍN GREÁ¥ BRÍTAÍN

and policy. Sir William Beveridge concluded his classic discussion
of British food control in the last war with the opinion that it
had little, if any, value for the years of peace.
. . . as an administrative experiment its teaching seems mainly negative . . .
the direct lessons from the Ministry's work are small. In other fields—of chemistry or optics or metallurgy or engineering or aeronautics—experiments made in
war have materially advanced man's peacetime mastery over nature. From
food control at highest but little can be learned of permanent application. . .
It opened no ways of permanent advance; its record is that of one small aspect
of the human spirit in its five years' prison, but here upon a tread-mill that has
ground no corn.1

The same thing cannot be said of food control to-day. Among
the tangled and sometimes knotted threads of food control schemes
and orders are some of a different colour from the rest, standing
out in sharp relief. These threads will not be cut off with the end
of the war; for they represent a social policy desirable both in
peace and in war.
From the confusion of ideas and argument about the nature
of the world to be built up after the horror of war has passed,
two conceptions appear to be emerging that have captured the
imagination and aroused the determination of almost all classes
of men. One has been happily expressed as "freedom from want".
Underlying this conception is the idea that the community through
a democratically elected government should take direct and active
responsibility for the welfare of all its members. The other conception is not easy to define—indeed it is as yet only imperfectly
and loosely expressed—but it is concerned with the belief that a
government democratically elected should and can consciously
organise the economic resources of the community in the interests
of the whole community. Both these principles were widely supported before the war and both have been given an impetus by
the war. The very organisation of a democratic country for modern
total war makes it necessary that these principles should be adopted
and applied, and in this process much that is of value for peacetime emerges.
NUTRITION

We have seen in the previous pages that the British Government has gone beyond the mere acceptance of responsibility for
the food supply of the" country and accepted a large measure of
responsibility for the nutritional condition of the people. Adequate
nutrition depends on the foods available, on the possibility of
obtaining them in adequate quantities, and on a sufficient knowledge of nutrition among consumers. The Government in wartime
1

Op. cit., p. 344.

eofíctúáióií

181

has attacked on all three fronts, and the ground gained on the
last two fronts will set new peace-time frontiers.
A nutrition program in peace-time must push these frontiers
further. It should be concerned with influencing food production
so that the most nutritionally valuable foods will be abundant;
it should be concerned with increasing the efficiency of production
and distribution so that food will be cheap ; it should be concerned
with subsidising or distributing free those foods which are most
necessary in diet but which are beyond the reach of lower income
groups; it should be concerned with school meals, school milk,
factory canteens and other communal feeding centres; and it
should be especially concerned with advancing the consumers'
knowledge of nutrition and the proper methods of preparing food.
The two outstanding wartime developments in this field are
the free and cheap milk scheme and the communal feeding programme. The consumption of milk in the United Kingdom, as in
most countries, was even in peace-time far below the optimum,
and the wartime increase, although due in some measure to the
scarcity of other foods, is largely due to the free and cheap milk
scheme and will outlast the war. This milk scheme is a definite
recognition by the Government of its responsibility for the health
of the children and, in addition, of an income level below which
their health is endangered because of inability to obtain milk—
the birthright of all children. There seems to be little doubt that
it will remain as a permanent part of British social policy, and
already many are urging that its scope should be extended. 1
The extension of communal meals, especially in the schools, in
the factories and in the mines, has provided for decent mid-day
meals facilities that will not be scrapped when the war is over.
The Minister of Food has spoken of the extension of factory canteens and of their future in these words:
. . . the Government have made great strides in this task of feeding the
worker at his work. I have known something about industrial conditions in this
country over a number of years, and when I remember the conditions under
which the working people of this country used to eat their mid-day meals, in
dull and often dirty mess rooms, or sitting on the window ledges of the works
eating cold sandwiches from paper packages, and when I look now at the vast
1
Cf. Viscount ASTOR: "Let us recognise the fact that the noble Lord (the
Minister of Food) has taken a step forward whereby the State recognises that
it is its duty and obligation to provide necessary, adequate and essential food for
expectant and nursing mothers and for young children where the family income
is of a low level. Let us see to it that that conception of public service is put in
the same category as our conception of public service in terms of sanitation,
housing and education, and that it becomes part of the recognised Government
machinery and administration. If we do that, and if we extend that principle
so that it shall apply not only to children below thè age of five but also to children
above that age we shall have made a very substantial contribution to a new and
better order for this country." Parliamentary Debates, House of Lords, 19 February
1941, Vol. 118, No. 17, col. 422.

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ÏO0D CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

extension of canteens, clean and bright, managed by trained and competent
women and providing food that gives pleasure as well as sustenance, I do not
hesitate to say that a great industrial revolution has silently taken place without
our noticing that it was happening. The work that has been done already in the
mines is of inestimable value to the health and the happiness of the miners. We
have great and permanent progress in our industrial outlook and in our industrial practice, and when peace comes we must never go back on this standard.1

A similar silent and little-marked revolution has taken place
in connection with the provision of milk and meals for children in
school. As noted above, the indefensible definition of a necessitous
child as one showing symptoms of malnutrition has finally been
superseded in England and Wales by a definition with reference
to income. This is a great and permanent advance ; for it is unthinkable that the old definition will ever be re-established. The feeding
of children in the schools may influence children's nutrition habits
beyond the school period. The opportunity for forming a taste
for the proper food is unparallelled, and in some school canteens
special studies are made of children's tastes, the conditions under
which they have been formed and the best methods of persuading
children to select and prefer the proper foods. 2 This is an aspect
of school feeding that should be extended after the war as a foundation for proper nutrition habits of the adult population. Bad nutrition is in a sense self-generating. Children's food habits are largely
formed by the home environment, and since it is much more
difficult to change adult tastes bad habits are only slowly eliminated.
The process can be speeded up if nutritional education takes its
place beside other forms of education in the schools.
The possibilities of increasing the nutritional value of some
foods widely consumed have not been neglected in wartime although
there is still a large scope for improvement. The adding of vitamins
A and D to margarine is a good example of what can be done, and
this development should not be dropped so long as margarine is
consumed as a substitute for butter.
The deficiency of vitamin Bi in the ordinary diet of the people
led the Government first to adopt a policy of adding this vitamin
to white bread and of making National Wheatmeal bread (85 per
cent, extraction) available everywhere at the same price as ordinary
white bread; and in recent months the use of the National Wheatmeal flour has been made compulsory and white flour may no
longer be produced.
The significance of these measures lies in the fact that the
Ministry of Food has taken special action to improve the nutri1
Parliamentary Debates, House of Lords, 2 December 1941, Vol. 121, col. 155.
' See discussion in the War-Time Nutrition Bulletin of the Children's Nutrition Council, No. 13, October-November 1941, p. 1.

CONCLUSION

183

tional content of foods forming a large part of the diet of low
income groups. Private manufacturers are obliged to conform to
government regulations not only in relation to margarine and
bread, but in relation to a variety of other foods—for example,
jam, some canned goods and milk powder—although provisions
for inspection are inadequate. In other words, quality standards
are laid down. Some countries before the war imposed quality
standards on milk producers and also in regard to injurious substances in food. These measures were taken to prevent foods containing harmful substances from being sold to the consumer. The
wartime measures have developed beyond this preventive stage
and imposed regulations on manufacturers requiring them to improve the nutritional value of their products. It would be desirable
if most of these measures were continued in peace-time and others,
such as the irradiation of canned milk, added.
During this war the British public has probably been bombarded with more sound nutritional information than in all the
rest of its history. It has been made "nutrition conscious", and
it is not unreasonable to assume that the end of the war will not
cause a relapse into unconsciousness. The war experience should
leave permanent traces on the food habits of the British people,
although some valuable foods, particularly stressed during the
war, e.g. carrots, may suffer a slight reduction in popularity. It is
true that the shortage of meat and fruits has caused considerable
substitution of other foods less desirable from the standpoint of
nutrition, but there is little reason to think that after the war,
when these products are again available in abundant quantities,
people will not want to consume them just as much as, if not more
than, they did before the war.
' Not only is the British housewife gaining a better knowledge
of the elements of nutrition but she is also gaining a better insight
into the proper preparation of food. The wartime advance may be
small compared with the size of the task to be accomplished, but
it is a beginning that will open the way to greater things.
PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION

Measures taken directly to improve the nutritional condition
of the people are only one side of the Government's wartime food
policy. Equally important is the responsibility assumed by the
Government for the production and distribution of food and the
consequent control established over the organisation of the community's resources for these purposes. If post-war economic policy
is to be characterised by a greater degree of Government control

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ÏOOD CONTROI, IN GREAT BRITAIN

over production and distribution of essential foods than existed in
the past, many of the techniques of control evolved during the war,
and especially the information and statistics collected, will be of
great value. Indeed, without these basic data no food policy in
peace or in war can be fully effective.
The reorganisation of agriculture holds a prominent place in
all discussions of post-war reconstruction in the United Kingdom.
Even before the war the State was taking an active part in influencing agricultural production and State funds were spent to
assist the industry. After the war the role of the State will not
be less important, and the knowledge gained during the war about
British agriculture will provide a sound basis in fact for a reconstruction policy. Nor is this aspect of wartime policy unrecognised in Great Britain at the present time. The Minister of Agriculture, in speaking of his farm survey, said:
The Farm Survey has a two-fold object—to assist in the prosecution of the
war and at the same time to collect information for use in the preparation of our
post-war agricultural policy. . . What I am most anxious to avoid is that we
should reach the post-war period of reconstruction without that body of factual
information which to-day is non-existent and which, in my view, is essential to
the formulation of an equitable and stable post-war agricultural policy.1
It is difficult to overestimate the importance from the standpoint of post-war policy of the information which is being gathered.
For the first time in the history of Great Britain the Government
will have a fairly accurate knowledge of the state of agriculture.
The Select Committee on National Expenditure suggested t h a t :
One useful line of procedure at any rate would be for the Ministry to collect
and prepare adequate material to be issued in due course in a White Paper so
that when the appropriate time comes Parliament would have before it the basis
for a comprehensive plan for giving effect to the purpose declared in the Ministerial statement of November 26 "of maintaining, after the war, a healthy and
well-balanced agriculture as an essential and permanent feature of national
policy". It is only by continuity of policy that confidence can be created and
waste avoided . . . It is most important that full advantage should be taken
of the organisation and experiences of the County War Committees for this
purpose—to ensure, on the one hand, that no opportunities are missed and, on
the other, that such encouragement as may be given (financial or otherwise) is
directed with precision to the spots where it is needed. To read, mark, learn
and inwardly digest the mass of detailed records which will be available to the
County War Committees so as to reduce such records to manageable conclusions
will be a difficult task. It will be particularly important to use the available
data so as to establish what in varying conditions are reasonable standards of
efficiency both as regards yields and working costs, so that any measures of
assistance given to agriculture (e.g. in the way of price protection or subsidies)
may not be pitched at a level which will shelter inefficiency.*
1
Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, 26 June 1941, Vol. 373, col. 1120.
* Sixth Report, op. cit., p. 9.

CONCLUSION

185

There are many other aspects of wartime agricultural policy
that merge into post-war policy. The power to reorganise agriculture now in the hands of the Minister of Agriculture is being
used to put the industry in a sounder position than ever before.
His control over farming operations and agricultural prices, and the
excellent position he is in to obtain voluntary services, scientific
assistance and the co-operation of the farmer, creates an unprecedented opportunity for the use of this power not only for the
purpose of winning the war, but also to effect a lasting improvement
in British agriculture. Measures developed and action taken to
improve drainage, eradicate bracken, extend fertilisation and
liming, develop mechanisation, improve worn-out grassland,
reduce the effects of animal and plant diseases, and improve the
remuneration and conditions of agricultural workers, have longterm effects. Many of them are capital investments that will only
carry maintenance charges after the war; all of them increase the
efficiency and productivity of agriculture. The production of some
commodities encouraged for war purposes ought undoubtedly to be
contracted with the coming of different conditions, while that of
others, notably milk, will increase. This is not the place to discuss
post-war agricultural policy, but it is clear that these wartime
measures will affect post-war agriculture regardless of the policy
adopted. .
The increase to £ 3 a week of the wages of agricultural workers
if maintained after the war will in itself force a certain reorganisation if huge additional subsidies to producers are to be avoided.
It was pointed out in Chapter II that the production of those
agricultural products in Great Britain requiring a large amount
of labour in relation to their value tended to decrease, in the
absence of subsidisation, because of the relatively high cost of
labour involved. Labour costs will be even higher if the increased
wages are maintained, yet it is clear that two things are desirable :
a decent wage for workers and cheap food for consumers. In the
last analysis the primary purpose of production is consumption,
not the remuneration of producers, but both purposes can be fulfilled if the productivity of each worker is high and if he is producing a product of high value in relation to the amount of labour
employed to produce it. Wartime improvements in agricultural
technique and capital equipment go a long way to accomplish the
former. The latter involves the question of reorganisation of output, which is not germane to this study but which must be considered in the light of the changes in labour costs which have
taken place during the war.
Agricultural efficiency is also being improved as a result of the

186

POOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

control over farming exercised by the Agricultural Executive
Committees. In view of the knowledge and experience gained
during the war by the members of these Committees, it is more
than likely that they will play a prominent part in post-war policy
and, if increased State control of agriculture is part of the post-war
policy in line with the general trend of ideas outlined above, the
Committees will form the administrative backbone of this control
in peace as they have in war. Some bad farmers have been dispossessed by these Committees and their land taken over by the
State. There is no obligation on the State to return this land to
the original owners after the war if there is reason to believe that
it will not be properly farmed, and if similar control of bad farming
in continued after the war it will do much to raise the level of
farming efficiency.
Before the war the organisation of the dissemination of the
results of agricultural research to the farmers was lamentably
defective. Although advisory centres staffed with agricultural
scientists existed in each county, they could not go to the assistance
of farmers unless their services were requested by the farmers.
Since the war the staffs of the agricultural education classes have
been distributed over the country and a technical officer has been
attached to most district committees.
For the first time . . . in the history of this country men with technical
qualifications are entitled to go with members of the district committees to a
farm and examine the farmers' system of running it. Instead of waiting until
they are asked they can now give advice or in extreme cases, can issue directions
with the committee's consent . . . For the first time farmers who never asked
for any technical assistance, and who affected to believe that the technical man
could not teach them anything at all, are now finding as a result of conversations
with the technical advisers that they are deriving real assistance and getting
better crops and livestock.1

This increased control over agriculture by the county committees can be used and is used to assist the farmer actively in
raising his own standards of farming not only by giving him a
better knowledge of new techniques but also by giving him what
help he needs in applying them.
Although State control of agriculture has effected long-run
changes in agricultural efficiency, developed techniques of control,
and provided vital data for an agricultural program, it is not clear
that control over the distribution of food will improve the prewar distribution structure, although it has undoubtedly resulted
in the collection of important information about the distribution
1
Minister of Agriculture, in Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, 19
November 1941, Vol. 376, cols. 423-24.

CONCLUSION

187

of food. * It is hardly possible at the present time to evaluate the
changes that have taken place or to predict what changes will
add a positive contribution to human welfare in the post-war
world. The policy of preserving existing channels of trade as far
as possible has prevented a thorough-going reorganisation of distributive processes, and it is indeed doubtful how far such a reorganisation to meet the necessities of State-directed distribution
in wartime would meet the needs of peace if private enterprise
and the profit motive continue to be the chief forces in the distribution of food in the future.
The stimulus given to vertical as well as horizontal organisation in the food manufacturing and distributing industries may
after this war, as it did after the last war, lead to a greater amount
of amalgamation or cartelisation and to an increased tendency
for one or a few large firms to dominate each branch of industry
to a greater extent than before. Additional measures may then be
necessary after the war to control monopolistic practices.

1
A. R. BURNS, in his investigation of the activities of American industry,
found that: "The fog of secrecy and often of deception that hangs heavily over
the activities of large corporate units is a serious barrier to accurate analysis."
(The Decline of Competition, p. vi.) There is little reason to expect conditions in
Great Britain to be much more favourable in this respect.

APPENDICES

APPENDIX I
FOOD CONSUMPTION IN THE UNITED KINGDOM
CONSUMPTION PER HEAD PER WEEK, 1 9 0 9 - 1 3 ,

Item

1 9 2 4 - 8 AND 1 9 3 4 - 5

1909-13

1924-8

1934-5

Increase ( + ) or
decrease ( — ) of
1934-5 compared with
1909-13
1924-8

per cent. per cent

lb.

lb.

lb.

Meat (including poultry,
etc)

2.58

2.56

2.81

+

Cereals (including wheat
and flour)

4.45

4.11

4.04

-

9

— 2

Potatoes

4.68

4.43

4.25

-

9

— 4

Other vegetables

1.38

1.81

2.22

+ 61

+ 23

Milk and cream

pts
3.46 1

pts
3.35 1

pts
3.26

-

6

— 3

Condensed milk

lb.
0.05

lb.
0.14

lb.
0.23

+360

+64

Eggs, in shell

no.
1.93

no.
2.34

no.
2.90

+ 50

+24

Butter

lb.
0.30

lb.
0.31

lb.
0.49

+ 63

+58

Margarine

0.11

0.23

0. 15

+ 36

— 35

Cheese

0.14

0.18

0. 19

+ 36

+ 6

Lard

0.08»

0. II a

0. 18

Sugar

1.52

1.60

1.79

+ 18

+ 11

Fish

0.79

0.80

0.87

+ 10

+ 9

Fruit

1.19

1.75

2.23

+ 87

+27

Tea

0.12

0.17

0.18

+ 50

+ 6

9

+ 10

j

5

1
s

These estimates for milk may be somewhat too high.
Lard made in the United Kingdom is included in meat.
• Not comparable.
These figures include wastage in distribution and in the home and consumption by domestic
animals.
Source: MINISTRY OP HEALTH: ADVISORY COMMITTOR ON NUTRITION: First Report (H.M.S.O.

1937), p. 16.

APPENDIX II
FOODSTUFFS FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION IN THE
UNITED KINGDOM
AVERAGE OF THE TWO YEARS 1934 AND 1935
(Products manufactured from imported materials, e.g. flour, margarine
and chocolate, are treated as imported.)

Commodity

Home
production

Thousand
tons
Cereals:
Wheat flour

500
25
50

Per cent.
of
total
supply

Imports
less
total
exports

Per cent.

Thousand
tons

11.9
45.5
50.0

Other cereals (e.g. macaroni, etc.)

3,693
30
50
50
57

Total
quantities
available
for consumption

Thousand
tons
4.123 1
55
100
50
57

42

42

575

12.8

3,922

4,427»

635
255
217
153
107
86
50

52.8
43.0
79.2
27.5
41.3
79.6
72.4

1,201
594
274
557
259
108
69

1,503

49.1

566
339
57
404
152
22
19
1,559

3,062

Other fish, fresh or cured.
Shell fish6

128»
702*
8

100.0
94.2
72.7

43
3
69

128
745
11
69

Total fish

838

88.0

115

953

910
92

100.0
92.0

53
13
53
63
33
19

41.4
52.0
10.0
31.0
89.3
10.0

4,700

67.1

(262)

67.1

Meat:
Beef and Veal*
Pork«

Rabbits
Total meat
Fish:

t

Milk and Dairy Produce:
Milk,
fresh
(million
gallons)
Milk, condensed whole. .
Milk, condensed skimmed
Butter
Cheese
Cream
Margarine
Eggs in shell (millions). .
(Eggs in shell) (thousand
tons)
Eggs, liquid, dried and

8

910
100

75
12
476
140
4
181 1
169
2,307
(128)

128
25
529
203
37
200
169
7,007
(390)

-40

40

FOODSTUFFS FOR H U M A N

Home
production

Commodity

Thousand
tons

193

CONSUMPTION

Per cent.
of
total
supply

Imports
less
total
exports

Per cent.

Thousand
tons

Total
quantities
available
for consumption
Thousand
tons

Fruit:

Nuts

315»

49.9

43.6
7.2

316
499
324
298
64
175
192
14

631
499
324
528
69
175
192
14

230 s
5

22.6

1,882

2,432

—

28

28

4,500 s

97.2

129

4,629

15
200»

10.2
99.5

132
1

147
201

1,600»

78.8

432
45

2,032
45

530

27.9

1

2.50

1,368
32
24
3

1,898
32
24
4

195
15

195
15

68

68

•

Canned fruit
Desiccated coconut

Total fruit

550"

Fruit Pulp

—

Vegetables:
Dried

beans,

peas and

Other vegetables (including tomatoes a n d rhubarb)
Preserved vegetables.. . .
Sugar, etc.:
Sugar (in terms of re-

Beverages:
Tea
Coffee
Cocoa, chocolate powder
and cocoa p r o d u c t s . . .

—

i Excludes 70,000 tons of wheat flour estimated to have been used for industrial purposes
which cannot be distributed between home production and imports.
1
Tinned meat and edible offals included in "other meat".
« Net landings after allowing for net exports of fresh or cured herrings and making further
allowance for weight of containers of cured herrings.
* No estimate for fresh water fish has yet been made.
B
Estimated edible portion only.
8
Included in fish above.
» Includes 65,000 tons of imitation lard manufactured in the United Kingdom from imported
raw materials.
* Includes allowance for allotments and private gardens.
9
Included in fresh fruit or vegetables.
Source: MINISTRY OK HEALTH: ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON NUTRITION: First Report (H.M.S.O.,

1937), p. 33.

A P P E N D I X III
CHRONOLOGY OF FOOD CONTROL

The following tables do not list all food control orders. They
are designed to show the development of general food control and
of control over the major groups of foods. Only the more important
orders are listed, and amendments to the principal orders have
been omitted unless they are of a fundamental nature. The first
orders controlling the price of each food and the first orders rationing any food are listed, but subsequent changes are generally
omitted. The date given is the date of the order and not the date
on which it came into force. Control of animal feedstuffs is not
covered in this appendix. The appendix is divided into the following sections:
I. General
II. Cereals and cereal products
I I I . Meat and meat products
IV. Oils and fats
V. Milk
VI. Cheese
VII. Eggs
VIII. Vegetables
IX. Fruits and preserves
X. Fish
X I . Sugar, glucose and invert sugar
X I I . Tea
X I I I . Miscellaneous

CHRONOLOGY OF FOOD CONTROI,

195

Table I. General
1939
31 Aug.

Title

S.R.&O.
No.

Acquisition of Food {Excessive Quantities)
Order, 1939

991

Acquisition of food b y any person except a
food trader, in excess of the normal quantity required for a week, prohibited.

1 Sept.

Food Control
Order, 1939

Committees

{Constitution)
1019

Local Food Control Committees constituted.

2 Sept.

Cold Storage {Restriction) Order, 1939

1027.

Prohibition of deliveries into or out of any cold
store except under licence; provision made for the
keeping of records and inspection of premises of
cold stores.

6 Sept.

Food {Conditions of Sale) Order, 1939

1103

Prohibition of the attaching of conditions relating to the purchase of any other article on the sale
of any article of food.

21 Sept.

Food Control Committees {England and Wales
and Northern Ireland) Enforcement Order,
1939

1250

Food Control Committees given the power of
enforcing the orders of the Ministry of Food in
their areas.

29 Sept.

Food Control Committees {Local
tion) Order, 1939

Distribu1312

Every retailer of foodstuffs and every person
engaged in the catering trade required to be registered and licensed for the sale of the following
specified foods: bacon, biscuits, bread, breakfast
cereals, butter, cakes, cheese, chocolate and sugar
confectionery, cocoa, coffee, compound lard, cream
(fresh or preserved), edible and cooking fats, eggs,
fish (wet or dried or in cans, glasses, etc.), flour,
fruit (fresh, dried, preserved, canned or bottled),
ham, honey, jam, lard, margarine, meats (including cooked meats, canned and preserved meats and
meat pies), milk, (fresh, canned or dried), potatoes,
poultry, game and rabbits, rice, sausages, sugar,
syrup, tea, vegetables (fresh, canned or dried).

3 Nov.

Food Control Committees {Registration of
Establishments) Order, 1939
Food Control Committees required to keep a
register of all catering establishments, institutions
and residential establishments which require bacon
and ham and butter.

1553

196

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

1939
27 Dec.

Title

S.R. & O.
No.
1856

Rationing Order, 1939
This order sets out the general restrictions on
obtaining or supplying rationed foods except as
specifically authorised; it prescribes the procedure
for households, catering establishments, institutions and residential establishments, and deals
with the issue and custody of ration documents
and with the authority of the Food Control Committees.

29 Dec.

Order appointing the day on which the Rationing Order, 1939, is to come into force in relation to Bacon, Butter and Sugar

1891

Rationing of bacon, butter and sugar to begin
on 8 January 1940.
1940

6 Jan.

Directions under the Rationing Order, 1939

13

Directions concerning the amounts of rationed
foods to be issued for household consumption or in
catering establishments.

8 Mar.

Order amending the Food Control Committees
{Registration of Establishments) Order, 1939

323

Only those clubs which regularly serve meals
permitted to register as catering establishments.

14 Mar.

Food {Inspection
1940

of Undertakings)

Order,
378

Food undertakings required to keep such books,
accounts and records as the Ministry may direct;
authorised officers permitted to enter and inspect
premises.

11 May

Order amending the Food Control Committees
{England and Wales and Northern Ireland)
Enforcement Order, 1939

in

Sub-Committees appointed under the Food
Control Committees (Constitution) Order, 1939,
given the powers possessed by Food Control Committees of enforcing orders within their area.

24 May

Order amending the Food Control Committees
{Constitution) Order, 1939
Provisions made for the inclusion of trade
union representatives in Food Control Committees;
it is provided t h a t where the Minister, after consultation with the Trades Union Congress, notifies
an appointing authority that a trade union representative is to ¡be included in a Food Control Committee, the authority concerned shall, on the next

788

CHRONOLOGY OF FOOD CONTROL
1940

Title

197
S.R. & O.
No.

vacancy occurring among the members representing the general public (other than women members),
appoint a trade union representative to fill t h e
vacancy after consultation with such local trade
union organisation as the Minister shall designate.

3 June

General Licence under the Food Control
Committees (Local Distribution) Order, 1939

876

An occupier of a garden or an allotment, not
carried on solely or mainly for the purpose of trade
or business, authorised to sell by retail any fresh
fruit and vegetables, honey, eggs, poultry and
rabbits produced in his garden or allotment.

5 Aug.

Waste of Food Order, 1940

1424

This order prohibits any person from wasting
food or causing or permitting any food to be wasted.

19 Nov.

Food {Conditions of Sale) Order, 1940

2012

Revocation of Food (Conditions of Sale) Order,
1939 (S.R. & O. 1103); conditions relating to the
purchase of any other article in connection with
the sale or proposed sale of any article of food prohibited; a retailer, however, may impose a condition t h a t he will sell an article of food only to
persons or establishments registered with him.

3 Dec.

Food Control Committees (Destruction of
Rats and Mice) Order, 1940

2069

Food Control Committees in England and Wales
empowered to give any directions affecting any
undertaking in their areas for the prevention of
damage to food by rats and mice.
1941

8 Jan.

Food (Current Prices) Order, 1941
The sale of specified foods prohibited, except
under licence, a t a price exceeding t h a t at which
specified food of substantially similar description
was sold on substantially similar terms on 2 December 1940.
The "specified foods" listed in the Schedule
to the order are: coffee (including coffee and
chicory); coffee essence (including coffee and chicory essence); cocoa powder; cocoa butter; chocolate for use as a beverage; canned and bottled
vegetables; canned pork and beans; honey; meat,
fish and poultry and other edible pastes; meat and
other edible extracts; shredded suet; dead poultry;
rice; tapiocas and sagos; macaroni, spaghetti and
vermicelli; biscuits, rusks and crisp breads; soups—
tinned, bottled and powdered; processed cheese;
pickles, sauces and relishes; custard and blancmange powders; table jellies; edible nuts.

23

198

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

1941

Title

S.R. & O.
No.

11 Jan.

Cold Storage {Control of Undertakings) Order,
1941

37

Every undertaker of a cold storage undertaking
required to comply with directions issued by the
Minister of Food.

28 Jan.

Local Authorities {Community Kitchens and
Sale of Food in Public Air Raid Shelters)
Order, 1941

103

Local authorities required, after consultation
with and subject to directions of the Minister of
Food, to set up community fcod centres and to
supply food in public air-raid shelters within their
areas.

22 Feb.
5 Mar.

Food {Restriction on Meals in Establishments)
Order, 1941
Local Authorities {Directions to Caterers)
Order, 1941

229
298

Local authorities given the power of giving specified types of directions to persons conducting catering
establishments.

20 Aug.

Food {Restriction on Dealings) Order, 1941

1234

Wholesale dealings in the following specified foods,
except under licence of the Minister, prohibited from
a date to be announced later by the Ministry of Food:
apples, bacon, bananas, biscuits rusks and crisp
breads, bitter oranges, bottled vegetables, canned
fruit, canned vegetables, cereal breakfast foods,
cheese, coffee, coffee essence (including coffee and
chicory essence), condensed milk, cornflour, blancmange powder and custard powder, dried fruits, egg
products, flour, frozen eggs, home-produced canned
meat roll, home-produced canned prepared meals,
imported canned meat, jam, lemons, macaroni,
spaghetti and vermicelli, marmalade, milk powder,
meat and fish pastes, national butter, oatmeal and
oat flakes, onions (including green onions), oranges,
pickles and sauces, plums, processed cheese, rice,
sago and tapioca, semolina, soft fruits, soups (canned
or desiccated), soya flour, sugar, syrup and treacle,
table jellies, tomatoes.

10 Sept.

Order amending the Food {Restriction
Dealings) Order, 1941

on
1580

Chocolate, chocolate confectionery and sugar
confectionery added to the list of foods to which the
Restriction on Dealings Order applies.

11 Oct.

Food Substitutes {Control) Order, 1941
T h e manufacture of food substitutes by way of
trade, except under licence or authority of the
Minister, prohibited.

1606

CHRONOLOGY OP FOOD CONTROL
1941

Title

18 Oct.

Order amending the Directions dated January
6, 1940, made under the Rationing Order,
1939, as amended, and amending the Tea
(Rationing) Order, 1940, and the Cheese
(Rationing) Order, 1941

199
S.R. & O.
No.

1635

This order provides for the purchase of sugar
and tea rations during four-week periods and makes
certain new arrangements for the purchase of weekly
seamen's rations; the ration of sugar and tea, as well
as that of cheese, for the four weeks' period beginning 20 October 1941 and any subsequent period of
four weeks may be obtained or supplied at any time
during the four weeks' period.

28 Oct.

The Food Transport Order, 1941

1694

This order provides for the control of the transport of food and forage in Great Britain ; every person
carrying on or in control of or employed in connection with a food undertaking must comply with
directions to be given by the Minister under the
order on the transport, or consignment for transport,
of food or forage, produced, treated, stored, moved,
disposed of, acquired or used in connection with the
undertaking.

25 Nov.

Food Control Committees (Licensing of Establishments) Order, 1941
The Food Control Committees (Registration of
Establishments) Order, 1939, as amended, revoked
and provision made for licensing instead of registering residential establishments, catering establishments and institutions; any establishment of this
sort requiring to obtain any of some 63 specified foods
must be licensed; the specified foods are: bacon and
ham, uncooked; bacon and ham, cooked; biscuits,
rusks and crispbreads; blancmange powder, cornflour and custard powder; bread; butter; cakes;
canned beans; cereal breakfast foods; cheese (including processed cheese); chocolate and sugar confectionery; cocoa; coffee; coffee essence (including coffee
and chicory essence); edible and cooking fats; edible
egg products; eggs; fish, wet; fish, cured or dried;
fish, in cans, glasses or other airtight containers; fish
pastes; flour; fruit, bottled or canned; fruit, crystallised; fruit curds; fruit, dried or evaporated; fruit,
fresh; game; honey; jam and marmalade; lard and
compound lard; macaroni, spaghetti and vermicelli;
margarine; meat, chilled, fresh or frozen; meat, canned
or preserved, other than corned beef, canned corned
mutton, and canned corned pork; meat, cooked;
meat pastes; meat pastries (including sausage rolls)
and meat pies; meat products, manufactured or
canned meat not in airtight containers; meat roll
or galantines, canned; milk, fresh; milk, canned;
milk, dried; mincemeat; nuts; oatmeal and oat
flakes; pickles and sauces; potatoes; poultry (including turkeys); rabbits; rice and edible rice products;

1887

200
1941

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN
Title

S.R. & O.
No.

sago and tapioca; sausages; semolina; soups, canned
or desiccated; soya flour; sugar; syrup and treacle;
table jellies; tea; vegetables, bottled or canned,
other than canned beans; vegetables, fresh (other
t h a n potatoes); vegetables, dried.

25 Nov.

Order amending the Food Control Committees
{Local Distribution) Order, 1939

1888

Substitutes a new schedule for the schedule to
the Order (S.R. & O. 1939, No. 312); this schedule is
to extend the list of foods which can be sold only by
retailers licensed for those foods and to include all
those foods listed in the schedule to the Food Control
Committees (Licensing of Establishments) Order,
1941 (S.R. & O., No. 1887).

4 Dec.

Order prescribing an Appointed Day for the
purposes of the Food {Restriction on Dealings)
Order, 1941

1958

On 29 December the Principal Order comes into
effect for: biscuits, rusks and crispbreads; bottled
vegetables; canned fruit; canned vegetables; cereal
breakfast foods; coffee; coffee essence (including
coffee and chicory essence); condensed milk; cornflour, blancmange powder and custard powder; dried
fruits; egg products; flour; frozen eggs; home-produced canned meat roll; home-produced canned prepared meals; imported canned meat; jam; macaroni,
spaghetti and vermicelli; marmalade; milk powder;
meat and fish pastes; oatmeal and oat flakes; pickles
and sauces; processed cheese; rice; sago and tapioca;
semolina; soups (canned or desiccated); soya flour;
sugar; syrup and treacle; table jellies.

9 Dec.

Order in Council amending
{General) Regulations, 1939

the Defence
1981

The maximum penalty which can be imposed by
the Courts for infringement of statutory orders made
by the Minister of Food is increased; the Minister
has also powers to seize and sell articles in respect
of which an offence is believed to have been committed.

10 Dec.

Order amending the Rationing Order, 1939

1992

This order permits the supply of household rations
for community meals and charity functions; rationed
food obtained for household consumption may now
be supplied by the person obtaining it to any other
person with whom he shares it as p a r t of a meal or
on a particular occasion and to any sale, meeting
or entertainment or other function held for a charitable or philanthropic object.

10 Dec.

Infestation Order, 1941
The Minister of Food is empowered to give directions regarding the storage and transport of food or
forage to prevent its infestation by vermin.

1993

CHRONOLOGY OF FOOD CONTROL
1941
16 D e c .

201

Title
Order amending
the Food
Dealings) Order, 1941

S.R. & O.
No.
{Restriction

on
2025

Liquid milk added to thè list of foods coming
under the Principal Order.
1942
8 Jan.

Order amending
the Food
Dealings) Order, 1941

{Restriction

on
34

This order adds home-produced canned tongues
to the list of specified foods set out in the schedule
to the Principal Order.

Table II. Cereals and Cereal Products
1939

Title
'

3 Sept.

Cereals and Cereal Products
Control) Order, 1939

{Requisition

S.R. & O.
No.

and
1035

Requisition and control of stocks of cereals and
cereal products; returns of stocks required; prohibition of dealings outside the United Kingdom, except
under licence.
3 Sept.

Flour {Prices) {No. 1) Order, 1939

1036

Wholesale prices fixed for straight run and imported flour. Licences required for buying or selling
flour at any price other than the prescribed price.
3 Sept.

Control of Mills
Order, 1939

{Flour and Provender)

No.l
1037

General Licence {Provender Millers)

1038

General Licence

1039

{Flour Millers)

Flour mills licensed and brought under control;
returns required from millers showing actual and
potential output of mills and intake facilities; general
licence granted to millers to mill and deliver cereals
and cereal products.
30 Oct.

Wheat {Prices) Order, 1939
Prices set for millable wheat sold by a grower
registered under the Wheat Acts; maximum prices
set for wheat used for animal feeding and flour milling sold by persons other than registered growers;
maximum price for. non-millable wheat.

1527

202

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

1939

23 Nov.

Title

S.R. & O.
No.

Home Grown Wheat (Control) Order, 1939

1685

Marketing of the home-grown wheat crop controlled ; registered growers required to sell to approved
buyers.

23 Nov.

General Licence under the Home Grown Wheat
(Control) Order, 1939

1686

General licence prescribing the maximum proportion of millable wheat which can be sold during
any one calendar month for purposes other than flour
milling.
1940

27 Jan.

Home Grown Oats (Control and
Prices) Order, 1940

Maximum
117

Sale and distribution of home-grown oats controlled and maximum prices for oats of the 1939 crop,
except when sold for seed, established.

27 Jan.

General Licence under the Home Grown Oats
(Control and Maximum Prices) Order, 1940

118

All millers who mill oats for human consumption
and all persons who are authorised to issue wheat
certificates under the Wheat Acts licensed as approved buyers of home-grown oats.

17 Apr.

General Licence under Control of Mills (Flour
and Provender) No. 1 Order, 1939

568

Revokes previous General Licence (S.R. & O. 1939,
No. 1039); flour millers authorised to mill any cereal
or cereal product provided t h a t they do not produce,
except under authority of the Minister, any flour
other t h a n national straight run flour and do not
make or deliver, except under licence of the Minister
any wheat by-product other than fine wheatfeed and
straight run bran.

1 May

Milled Wheaten
Order, 1940

Substances

(Restriction)
641

Sale, purchase or use of any milled wheaten substance for any purpose other than as food for human
consumption prohibited except under licence of the
Minister.

1 May

General Licence under the Milled Wheaten
Substances (Restriction) Order, 1940
The sale, purchase or use of certain milled wheaten
substances for feeding to livestock or in the preparation of food for livestock authorised.

642

CHRONOLOGY OP FOOD CONTROL
1940

3 June

203
S.R. & O.
No.

Title

Bread (Prohibition of Exchange) Order, 1940

865

Any baker or seller of bread prohibited from exchanging any bread for other bread which he has sold
or delivered except under licence.

17 June

Order Revoking the General Licence dated
16 March 1940 under the Home Grown Oats
(Control and Maximum Prices) Order, 1940

1005

Growers permitted to sell oats only to persons
licensed as approved buyers under the Control Order.

28 June

General Licence under the Home Grown Oats
(Control and Maximum Prices) Order, 1940

1112

Growers of oats authorised to use as food for livestock any oats bought by them for seed and not required for t h a t purpose.

15 July

Dried Peas, Beans and Lentils (Control and
Maximum Prices) Order, 1940

1283

The purchase for the purpose of canning and the
canning or milling of varieties cf dried peas, beans
and lentils specified in the order prohibited, except
under licence ; sale or purchase of these products prohibited except under licence or except by a retailer
in the course of his business; maximum growers' and
wholesale prices for different varieties of peas, beans
and lentils prescribed; maximum millers' and wholesale prices for split peas and lentils prescribed.

30 July

Home Grown Oats (Control and
Prices) (No. 2) Order, 1940

Maximum
1375

Prohibition, except under licence, of the sale of
oats by a grower, except to an approved buyer;
monthly returns of particulars of sales required of approved buyers; maximum prices for oats, except
seed oats, established; revocation of Home Grown
Oats (Control and Maximum Prices) Order, 1940
(S.R. & O., No. 117), and S. R. & 0., No. 145.

31 July

Home Grown Barley (Control and
Prices) Order, 1940

Maximum
1398

Regulations for the control and sale of barley
provided; sale cf barley above the maximum price
permitted to food manufacturers for the manufacture
of human food.

7 Aug.

Home Grown Rye (Control and
Prices) Order, 1940

Maximum

The sale of rye by a grower prohibited, except to
an approved buyer, except under licence; other provision made for the control of home-grown rye and
maximum prices established, except for rye sold as
seed.

1440

204

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

1940
8 Aug.

Title
Bread (Restriction on Sales) Order, 1 940

S.R. & O.
No.
1457

The sale of bread prohibited, except in four specified shapes.

28 Aug.

Threshed Home Grown Peas (Control and
Maximum Prices) Order, 1940

1572

Provision made for the control of threshed homegrown peas and maximum prices established.

28 Aug.

General Licence under the Control of Mills
(Flour and Provender) (No. 1) Order, 1939

1570

Flour millers permitted to produce and sell "proprietary self-raising flour" and "proprietary brown
flour" both of which are defined; these are "speciality
flours" for the purpose of the Flour (Prices) Order,
1940.

26 Sept.

Barley (Control
Order, 1940

and

Maximum

Prices)
1737

Additional regulations for the control of homegrown barley; maximum prices established.

26 Sept.

Oats (Control and Maximum
1940

Prices) Order,
1738

Additional regulations made for the control of
home-grown oats; maximum prices established.

12 Dec.

Oat Products (Control and Maximum
Order, 1940

Prices)
2118

The milling, manufacture, production, packeting,
sale or purchase of specified cereal products prohibited
except under licence; maximum prices established
for these products.

24 Dec.

Cereal Breakfast Foods (Control and Provisional Prices) Order, 1940
The sale of any cereal breakfast food a t
exceeding t h a t at which it was sold under
conditions on 2 December 1940 prohibited;
facture of cereal breakfast food prohibited
under licence.

2180

a price
similar
manuexcept

1941

8 Jan.

Food (Current Prices) Order, 1941
Sale of rice, tapioca and sago, macaroni, spaghetti
and vermicelli, biscuits, rusks and crispbreads prohibited, except under licence, a t a price exceeding
t h a t a t which food of a similar description was sold
on 2 December 1940.

23

CHRONOLOGY OP FOOD CONTROL
1941

3 Feb.

Title

205
S.R. & O.
No.

Bread (Current Prices) Order, 1941

150

The sale of bread a t a price exceeding t h a t a t
which bread of a substantially similar description,
quality and quantity was sold in the ordinary
course of business on substantially similar terms and •
conditions on 2 December 1940 prohibited, except
under licence.

11 Mar.

Wheat (Prices) Order, 1941

318

Revokes, and subject to certain changes consolidates the provision of the Wheat (Prices) Order,
1939 (S.R. & O., N o . 1527), and its amendment. Prices
apply now to sales by all growers, not as before only
to growers registered under the Wheat By-Laws,
1932.

11 Mar.

Home Grown Wheat (Control) Order, 1941

319

Home-Grown Wheat (Control) Order, 1939 (S.R.
& O., No. 1685), as amended, is revoked, and revised
provisions for controlling sales of home-grown wheat
established.

2 Apr.

Rice (Maximum Prices) Order, 1941

464

Maximum prices for specified varieties of rice
fixed.

8 Apr.

Rice (Control) Order, 1941

501

The use of rice for other t h a n human food or other
t h a n in the manufacture, production cr preparation
of human food prohibited, except under licence. Provision made for the keeping of records and accounts.

14 May

Tapioca and Sago (Maximum Prices) Order,
1941

675

Maximum prices for all varieties of tapioca and
sago prescribed.

3 July

Biscuits (Licensing and Control) Order, 1941

961

Manufacture of biscuits prohibited, except under
licence of the Minister.

9 July

Bread (Licensing of Producers) Order, 1941

980

Provides that, except under authority of the
Minister, no one may produce any bread a t any premises without a licence from the Food Control Committee for the area in which the premises are situated.

30 July

Oats (Control and Maximum
1941

Prices) Order,

Provisions made for the control of sales and prices
of oats of the 1941 crop.

1130

206

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

1941

Title

S.R. & O.
No.

30 July

Home Grown Wheat (Control and Prices)
Order, 1941

1132

Provisions made for the control of sales and prices •
of wheat of the 1941 crop.

27 Aug.

Flour (Control and Prices) Order, 1941

1291

Consolidates the provisions of previous orders
controlling flour and flour prices and makes certain
new regulations for the control of the manufacture
and prices of flour and wheat by-products.

27 Aug.

Barley (Control and Maximum Prices) Order,
1941

1292

Barley (Control and Maximum Prices) Order,
1940 (S.R. & O., No. 1737), as amended, revoked,
except for Northern Ireland, and new provisions
made for the control of sales and prices of homegrown and Manx barley in Great Britain.

10 Sept.

Home Grown Rye (Control and
Prices) Order, 1941

Maximum
1398

Home Grown Rye (Control and Maximum Prices)
Order, 1940 (S.R. & O., No. 1440), revoked except
for Northern Ireland and provision made for the
control of sales and prices of home-grown rye in
Great Britain.

24 Sept.

Order amending the Flour (Control and Prices)
Order, 1941

1478

T h e definition of National Straight R u n Flour
in the Principal Order amended so as to prescribe a
maximum rate of extraction of 85 per cent, as well
as a minimum rate of 75 per cent, for this kind of
flour; except under licence flour millers may now
produce only National Straight R u n or National
Wheat Meal flour.

1 Oct.

Bread (Control and Maximum Prices) Order,
1941

1542

New provisions for the control of the prices of
bread made; restrictions on bread manufacture imposed and with certain exceptions the wrapping,
slicing and banding of bread prohibited.

8 Oct.

Macaroni and Similar Products
Prices) Order, 1941

(Maximum
1577

Prescribes maximum prices for macaroni, spaghetti, vermicelli, noodles and similar products.

15 Oct.

Cereal Breakfast Foods (Control and Maximum Prices) Order, 1941
Revokes the Cereal Breakfast Foods (Control
and Provisional Prices) Order, 1940 (S.R. & O., No.

1620

CHRONOLOGY OP POOD CONTROL
1941

Title

207
S.R. & O.
No.

2180), and makes new provision for the control of
the manufacture and prices of cereal breakfast foods;
manufacture, production or packeting of cereal breakfast foods prohibited, except under licence; maximum
prices for specified cereal breakfast foods prescribed.

8 Nov.

Directions under the Oats {Control and Maximum Prices) Order, 1941

1765

Directions for the sale and use of oats by approved
buyers revised in order to give priority to sales to
oatmeal millers and feedstuff for horses within the
ration.

10 Dec.

Soya Flour {Control and Maximum
Order, 1941

Prices)
1994

Manufacture, sale and prices of home-produced
and imported soya flour controlled.

23 Dec.

Order amending the Home Grown Wheat
{Control and Prices) Order, 1941

2085

Amends the Principal Order in order to vary the
fixed and maximum prices for millable wheat during
the period January to July 1942 and makes new
regulations for the sale and certification of non-millable wheat.

31 Dec.

Dried Peas, Beans and Lentils {Control and
Maximum Prices) Order, 1941

2139

New provisions made for the control of manufacture, sales and prices of dried peas, beans and lentils;
the order prohibits soaking and makes changes in
the price schedules; maximum retail prices are now
fixed a t an inclusive figure instead of being calculated
with reference to a basic sum.

31 Dec.

Oat Products {Control and Maximum
{No. 2) Order, 1941

Prices)
2140

Revokes the Oat Products (Control and Maximum
Prices) Order, 1941 (S.R. & O., No. 1531), and makes
new provisions for the control, manufacture and sale
of oatmeal, oat flour and oat flakes; maximum retail
prices made inclusive with no additions allowed to
the schedule of prices.
1942

24 Jan.

Order amending the Food {Points Rationing)
Order, 1941
Rice, sago and tapioca, dried peas, beans and
lentils included in the points rationing scheme.

130

208

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

Table III.
1939

3 Sept.

Meat and Meat Products
Title

S.R. & O.
No.

Pigs {Provisional Prices) Order, 1939

1061

Prices are fixed on a deadweight basis for the sale
of pigs for slaughter (revoked from 1 December 1939).

4 {Sept.

Meat {Provisional Prices) Order, 1939

1040

Price control established for fresh, imported and
canned meat, and also for sausages and edible offals;
price of the meat specified must not exceed the average for meat of a similar description during the
week ending 25 August (revoked from 4 December
1939 except as regards chilled or frozen meat).

5 Sept.

Imported Canned Meat {Requisition) Order,
1939

1076

Imported meat requisitioned; returns and licences
required of dealers.

9 Sept.

Fatstock {Provisional Prices) {No. 2) Order,
1939

1130

Maximum prices set for various descriptions of
fatstock (revoked 1 December 1939).

9 Sept.

Imported Meat {Requisition) Order, 1939

1131

Imported meat requisitioned and dealers required
to obtain a licence.

9 Sept.

Meat {Provisional Prices)
1939

{No. 2) Order,
1132

Revokes the Principal Order so far as it relates
to the sale of meat by wholesale and prescribes by
schedule the maximum wholesale price which may be
charged for fresh meat and imported meat (revoked
from 4 December 1939 except as regards chilled and
frozen meat).

15 Sept.

Imported Bacon and Hams
Order, 1939

{Requisition)
1199

Imports of bacon and ham requisitioned with the
exception of shipments from Northern Ireland and
Eire.

23 Sept.

Imported Pork {Requisition) Order, 1939

1275

Imported pork in cold stores requisitioned.

30 Sept.

Order amending the Imported Bacon and
Hams {Requisition) Order, 1939
Exceptions made in Principal Order regarding
Northern Ireland and Eire cancelled.

1335

CHRONOLOGY OF POOD CONTROL
1939
2 Oct.

Title
Bacon {Licensing of Producers) Order, 1939

209
S.R. & O.
No.
1337

Production of bacon, except under licence, prohibited; records required of licensees and their premises made subject to inspection.
4 Oct.

17 Oct.

27 Nov.

Home-produced Bacon {Distribution) Order,
1939
Bacon importers required to sell their homeproduced bacon through a Ckivernment agent or the
Bacon Importers, National Defence Association Ltd. ;
applies only to traders registered under the Bacon
Marketing Scheme.
Bacon and Hams {Borax Packed) {Returns)
Order, 1939
Returns required from owners of bacon or hams
packed in borax.
Bacon {Control of Production) Order, 1939

1370

1443

1711

Production of hams or bacon with some exceptions prohibited except under licence.
30 Nov.

Fatstock, Home-Killed Pork, Meat and Pigs
{Provisional Prices)
{Revocation) Order,
1939

1730

Removal of existing controls over the marketing
of home-produced meat (revokes Nos. 1040, 1061,
1130, 1132, above).
29 Dec.

Home Produced Bacon {Distribution) {No. 2)
Order, 1939
Provides that except under and in accordance with
the terms of a licence granted by the Minister of
Food no person shall sell any bacon produced by him
in Great Britain except to a person authorised by
the Minister to produce on his behalf.

1889

1940

6 Jan.

Bacon {Prices) Order, 1940

12

Fixed wholesale prices and maximum retail prices
for bacon and ham prescribed.

6 Jan.

Directions under the Rationing Order, 1939

13

Bacon ration prescribed.

2 Jan.

Meat {Maximum Retail Prices) Order, 1940
Maximum retail prices for all qualities and cuts
of meat, both home-killed and imported, established.

37

210

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

1940

12 Jan.

Title

S.R. & O.
No.

Pigs {Sales) Order, 1940

38

Sale of pigs for slaughter, except a t prescribed
collecting centres, prohibited.

13 Jan.

Livestock {Sales) Order, 1940

40

All livestock required to be sold a t collecting
centres to a Government buyer, with the exception
of cattle slaughtered under the Diseases of Animals
Acts and by self-suppliers.

13 Jan.

Livestock {Restriction on Slaughtering) Order,
1940

41

Under this order the Minister of Food becomes
the sole purchaser of all fatstock for slaughter for
human consumption.

13 Jan.

Meat {Prescribed Wholesale Prices) Order,
1940

42

Wholesale prices for home-killed and imported
meat fixed.
8 Mar.

Order amending

the Rationing

Order,

1939

324

Provides t h a t the Rationing Order shall come
into force on 11 March 1940 for meat; exempts from
rationing canned meat or canned meat products,
cooked meat, galantines, luncheon sausages, meat
pastes, brawn or jellied veal; other manufactured
meat products freed of the ration if they contain not
more than 50 per cent, of meat by weight.

8 Mar.

Order amending the Directions
Rationing Order, 1939

under the
325

Meat ration fixed a t Is. lOd. a week for adults
and l i d . for children.

8 Mar.

Order amending Meat
Prices) Order, 1940

{Maximum

Retail
326

Butchers required to sell meat in accordance with
specified descriptions or cuts; they are not permitted
to sell any description or cut mentioned in the schedules unless it has been cut in accordance with the
practice ordinarily followed in the butcher's district;
sausages and sausage meat removed from maximum
retail prices order.

8 Mar.

Order amending the Meat {Prescribed Wholesale Prices) Order, 1940
Offal prices removed from the schedule of prescribed wholesale prices.

327

CHRONOLOGY OF FOOD CONTROL
1940 ,
16 Mar.

Title
Order amending the Livestock {Sales) Order,
1940
New grades of various classes of livestock introduced; killing-out percentages may be determined,
if an inspector of the Ministry so requires, by the
ascertained deadweight after slaughter.

211
S.R. & O.
No.
387

18 Mar.

Sausages {Maximum Prices) Order, 1940
All sausages and sausage meat required to be
sold only in three grades, which are defined according to meat content; maximum wholesale and retail
price for each grade established; sausages with meat
content of less than 30 per cent, are prohibited.

394

21 Mar.

Order amending the Rationing Order, 1939
Sausages and all kinds of manufactured meat
products freed of the ration.

415

Directions under the Rationing Order, 1939

526

9 Apr.

Pork freed of the ration.
5 June

Order amending Bacon {Prices) Order, 1940
Maximum retail price for bacon trimmings (boneless) prescribed; the order further provides that
bacon must be sold, both wholesale and retail, only
under the descriptions and cuts specified in the Principal Order, as amended.

896

5 June

Directions under the Rationing Order, 1939
Bacon trimmings to be supplied free of the ration.

897

15 Aug.

Livestock {Import from Eire and the Isle of
Man) Regulations, 1940
These regulations prohibit, except under licence
of the appropriate Minister, the importation of livestock from Eire and the Isle of Man, except at specified ports or by specified routes; transportation of
livestock from the point of entry into Great Britain
prohibited until examined by an authorised officer.

10 Sept.

1 Nov.

Canned Corned Beef {Retail Prices and Control) Order, 1940
Prohibits the sale by a butcher, and the purchase
by any person, of canned corned beef, except at the
price of Is. 2d. per lb. net weight; canned corned
beef made subject to rationing order for meat.
Rabbits {Retail Maximum Prices) Order,
1940
Maximum retail prices for rabbits prescribed;
do not apply to live rabbits or rabbits bred in captivity, canned rabbits, or cooked rabbits for sale as
part of a meal.

1500

1645

1935

212

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

1940
16 Dec.

Title
Turkeys

{Maximum

S.R. & O.
No.
2148

Prices) Order, 1940

Maximum prices for certain descriptions of
turkeys prescribed.
1941
4 Jan.

Order amending the Rationing Order, 1939,
and the Directions dated January 6, 1940,
made thereunder, and revoking the Directions
dated April 9, 1940, made thereunder

15

Rationed edible offals removed from the list of
foods which may be sold free of the ration; meat
ration reduced to Is. 6d. retail price; caterers prohibited from supplying rationed foods, except as part
of a meal or hot beverage.
8 Jan.

Food (Current Prices)

Order, 1941

23

Sale of dead poultry prohibited, except under
licence, at a price exceeding that at which it was sold
on 2 December 1940.
9 Jan.

Rabbits

(Maximum

Prices) Order, 1941

27

Revokes the Rabbits (Retail Maximum Prices)
Order, 1940 (S.R. & O. 1940, No. 1935), and prescribes wholesale as well as retail prices for rabbits.

15 Jan.

Sausages (Maximum Prices) Order, 1941

62

New schedule of maximum wholesale and retail
prices for sausages and sausage meat prescribed;
previous Order (S.R. & O. 1940, No. 394), revoked;
only sausage and sausage meat with a meat content
of not less than 30 per cent, and not more than 45
per cent, may be manufactured or sold.

25 Jan.

Poultry (Maximum Prices) Order, 1941

93

Maximum producers', wholesale and retail prices
for special classes of poultry prescribed; order does
not apply to sales of poultry for the purposes of breeding, laying or rearing.
12 F e b .

Home Produced
1941

Bacon

(Distribution)

Order,
181

Prohibits, except under licence or instructions of
the Minister, any person from selling or delivering
any bacon produced by him in Great Britain.
17 F e b .

Order amending the Livestock (Restriction
Slaughtering)
(No. 2) Order, 1940

on

It is made an offence for any person to trade in
meat for human consumption or to buy meat derived
from livestock slaughtered in Great Britain, except •
from the Minister or his agents.

199

CHRONOLOGY OP FOOD CONTROL
1941
3 June

Title
Order amending the Rationing Order, 1939

213
S.R. & O.
No.
786

All rationed edible offals, except ox skirts, freed
of the ration.
7 June

3 July

Canned Meat Products (Control and Maximum Prices) Order, 1941
Manufacture of meat products, with certain specified exceptions, prohibited, except under licence;
sales by wholesale of meat products packed in airtight containers, with certain specified exceptions,
prohibited, except under licence; quality standards
laid down for canned meat products; maximum prices
prescribed for home-produced canned meat products.
Imported Canned Meat (Maximum Prices)
Order, 1941
Maximum importers', wholesale and retail prices
for several varieties of imported canned meat precribed.

10 Sept.

Meat (Addition of Preservative) Order, 1941
Except under authority of, or in accordance with,
the directions of the Minister, no-one may add preservative to meat, or treat meat with preservative.

16 Sept.

Rabbits (Control and Maximum
Prices)
Order, 1941
Rabbits (Maximum Prices) (No. 2) Order (S.R.
& O. 1941, No. 228) revoked and new schedules of
maximum prices for both wild and tame rabbits
prescribed; provision made for licensing certain
traders.

16 Sept.

Hares (Maximum Prices) Order, 1941
Maximum wholesale and retail prices for brown
and mountain hares prescribed.

28 Oct.

Canned Goods (Prohibition of Retail Sales)
Order, 1941
Between 29 October and 16 November 1941, the
retail sale of specified canned goods prohibited; these
canned goods are tongues, briskets, Australian minced
meat loaf, Australian or New Zealand canned rabbit,
Eire stewed steak, U.S.A. luncheon meat, U.S.A.
canned pork sausage meat or pork sausage bulk,
canned fish of any description and canned beans in
sauce or gravy.

29 Oct.

Poultry (Maximum Prices) (No. 2) Order,
1941
New provision for the control of sales and prices
of poultry made; previous Maximum Prices Order

808

956

1395

1441

1442

1693

1701

214
1941

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN
Title

S.R. & O.
No.

revoked and new maximum prices for poultry prescribed; from a date to be fixed by order of the Minister, poultry may be sold by wholesale only under
licence of the Minister; the order does not apply to
the sale or purchase of poultry for breeding, laying
or rearing.
12 Nov.

Food (Points Rationing) Order, 1941
Provides for the rationing of certain specified
foods including a large variety of canned meats and
fish.

1808

19 Nov.

Goat Meat {Maximum Prices) Order, 1941
Provisions made for control of the sales and prices
of goat meat.

1851

20 Nov.

Horseflesh (Control and Maximum
Prices)
Order, 1941
Provisions made for control of the sales and prices
of horseflesh for human consumption.

1862

Order prescribing an Appointed Day for the
purposes of the Food (Restriction on Dealings)
Order, 1941
1 December fixed as the day on which the prescribed order comes into force for bacon.

1871

Order amending the Poultry
(Maximum
Prices) (No. 2) Order, 1941
Provision made for increasing maximum prices
of poultry in certain areas.

1907

Order amending the Rabbits (Control and
Maximum Prices) Order, 1941
Provision made for increasing the maximum prices
of rabbits in certain areas.

1908

22 Nov.

26 Nov.

26 Nov.

3 Dec.

15 Dec.

Order amending the Hares (Maximum Prices)
Order, 1941
Maximum first-hand wholesale and retail prices
prescribed for hares; provision made for increasing
prices in certain areas.
Canned Meat and Canned Soup (Control and
Maximum Prices) Order, 1941
Provisions made for control of the manufacture,
sale and prices for canned meat products and canned
soup and consolidating the provisions of previous
orders and adding certain amendments.

1953

2021

CHRONOLOGY OF FOOD CONTROL

215

Table IV. Oils and Fats
1939
4 Sept.

4 Sept.

Title

S.R. & O.
No.

Marine Oils (Provisional Control) Order,
1939
Prices of specified marine oils restricted to current
price.
Oilseeds, Vegetable Oils and Fats
sional Control) Order, 1939

1072

(Provi1073

Prices of specified oilseeds and oils and fats restricted to current level; dealers required to obtain
a licence; returns of stocks required.
4 Sept.

4 Sept.

11 Sept.

Animal Oils and Fats (Provisional Control)
Order, 1939
Prices of specified animal oils and fats restricted
to current price; dealers required to obtain a licence;
returns of stocks required.
Margarine and Cooking Fats (Provisional
Control) Order, 1939
Prices of specified fats restricted to current price;
manufacturers and wholesale dealers required to
obtain a licence. Returns of stocks required (revoked
11 November 1939).

1074

1075

Oilseeds, Vegetable Oils and Fats (Provisional
Control) Amendment Order, 1939

1151

Marine Oils (Provisional
ment Order, 1939

1152

Control)

Amend-

Animal Oils and Fats (Provisional Control)
Amendment Order, 1939

1153

These orders provide that, except in accordance
with the terms of a licence to be granted by the
Minister of Food, no person shall, after 11 September
buy or sell any of the specified oils situated outside
of the United Kingdom in excess cf a specified gross
weight; no person on or after 25 September shall,
except under licence, engage in crushing, refining,
etc., or use any of the oils, except for the purpose of
human or animal food.
13 Sept.

22 Sept.

Butter (Provisional Maximum Prices) Order,
1939
Maximum wholesale and retail prices of butter
set.
Butter (Requisition and Control) Order, 1939
Stocks of butter requisitioned and dealers required
to be licensed.

1172

1255

216

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

1939
23 S e p t .

Title
Butter

(Maximum

S.R. & O.
No.
1274

Prices) Order, 1939

Maximum prices of butter of all kinds set; previous orders superseded.
23 Sept.

General Licence under the Oilseeds, Vegetable
Oils and Fats (Provisional
Control)
Order,
1939

1279

Use of certain oils (castor oil, linseed oil, etc.) other
than for the purpose of the manufacture of food,
authorised.
23 S e p t .

General Licence under the Animal Oils
Fats (Provisional Control) Order, 1939

and
1280

Authorises butchers to manufacture dripping.
29 S e p t .

Imported

Lard (Control) Order, 1939

1332

Imported lard requisitioned; maximum retail
prices set.
4 Oct.

Oilseeds, Vegetable Oils and Fats and
Oils (Control) Order, 1939

Marine
1371

Revocation of Orders Nos. 1073, 1151, 1152, 1072;
supplies of the specified oilseeds, oils and fats requisitioned and dealers required to be licensed; the order
provides for records and inspection (revoked 11
November 1939).
7 Oct.

Margarine
and Cooking
Order, 1939

Fats

(Requisition)
1384

Stocks of margarine and cooking fats requisitioned
and dealers and manufacturers required to obtain a
licence.
20 Oct.

Animal Oils and Fats (Provisional
(No. 2) Order, 1939

Control)
1480

Maximum prices prescribed for home melt bone
grease and home melt technical tallow.
11 N o v .

Order revoking the Margarine
and Cooking
Fats (Provisional
Control) Order, 1939 and
amending the Margarine and Cooking Fats
(Requisition)
Order, 1939
Manufacture of margarine and cooking fats decontrolled, but manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers of these products still required to obtain a
licence.

1613

CHRONOLOGY OF FOOD CONTROL

1939

Title

11 Nov.

Order amending the Oilseeds, Vegetable Oils
and Fats and Marine Oils {Control) Order,
1939

217
S.R. & O.
No.
1614

Revocation of Principal Order (S.R. & O., No.
1317) which required the ownerships of stocks of
specified oilseeds, oils and fats to be transferred to
the Ministry of Food.

29 Dec.

Cod Liver Oil {Control of Production) Order,
1939

1885

Manufacturers of cod-liver oil or of mixtures of
cod-liver oil with any vegetable oils and fats or with
marine oils required to obtain a licence from the
Ministry of Food.
1940

1 Jan.

Butter {Licensing and Control) Order, 1940

4

Prohibition of the manufacture of butter for sale,
except under licence; this restriction does not apply
to manufacture by a farmer on his farm pi émises of
butter from milk produced by that farmer, or to the
manufacture of butter not for sale.

6 Jan.

Directions under the Rationing Order, 1939

13

Butter rations prescribed.

25 Apr.

Dripping {Maximum Prices) Order, 1940

606

Maximum wholesale and retail prices for dripping
established.

9 May

Lard {Maximum Prices) Order, 1940

704

Maximum first hand, wholesale and retail price
prescribed for all kinds of animal lard; revocation of
t h e Imported Lard (Control) Order, 1939 (S.R. & O.
1939, No. 1332).

5 June

Margarine {Pre-packing) Order, 1940

898

Prohibition, except under licence of the Minister,
of the pre-packing of any margarine except by the
manufacturer or by a retailer for sale on his own premises.

8 June

Margarine, Cooking Fats and Edible Oils
{Control of Sales) Order, 1940
Prohibition of the sale to or purchase by a trade
user except under permit of certain oils and fats
specified in the order; these are animal lard, cooking
fats, dripping, edible oils and margarine (a " t r a d e
user" is a person using any of the specified oils and
fats in the preparation of any article, other than any
of such specified oils and fats).

926

218

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

1940

Title

14 June

Margarine (Addition of Borax) Order, 1940
Manufacture, sale and storage of margarine containing added borax permitted under licence.

28 June

Margarine and Cooking Fats (Requisition)
Order, 1940
Manufacturers of margarine and cooking fats
required to place all stocks of margarine or cooking
fats in their possession and all margarine and cooking
fats produced after 14 July at the disposal of the
Minister of Food; prohibition, except under licence,
of the manufacture or sale by wholesale of margarine
or cooking fats; revocation of the Margarine and
Cooking Fats (Requisition) Order, 1939 (S.R. & O.
1939, No. 1384).

13 July

Order amending the Rationing Order, 1939
and the Directions dated 6 January 1940,
made thereunder and appointing the day on
which that Order is to come into force in relation to Margarine and Cooking Fats
Certain provisions of the Rationing Order to come
into force in relation to margarine and cooking fats
on 22 July 1940; rations of butter and margarine and
cooking fats prescribed.

S.R. & O.
No.
982

1107

1272

1941
15 F e b .

Animal Oils and Fats (Saponification and
Splitting) Order, 1941
Prohibits, except under licence, the saponification
or splitting of any of the home melt greases or home
melt technical tallows specified in the order.

4 Sept.

Lard (Licensing) Order, 1941
Provides that no-one may produce, manufacture
or refine lard, or sell it by wholesale, except under
licence.

11 Nov.

Order prescribing Appointed Days for the
Purposes of the Food (Restriction on Dealings) Order, 1941
Fixes 1 December 1941 as the date on which the
Principal Order shall come into force for national
butter.

195

1343

1790

Table V. Milk
1939

Title

18 Sept.

Condensed Milk (Provisional Prices) Order,
1939
Maximum wholesale and retail prices fixed for
condensed milk.

S.R. & O.
No.
1212

CHRONOLOGY OF FOOD CONTROL
1940

31 Jan.

Title

Milk {Retail Maximum

219
S.R. & O.
No.

Prices) Order, 1940

150

Schedule of maximum retail prices for liquid milk
prescribed (revoked 8 February).

8 Feb.

Milk {Provisional Retail Prices) Order, 1940

197

Maximum retail prices of all grades of liquid cow's
milk fixed a t the level a t which such milk was sold in
the week ending 31 December 1939; revokes Milk
(Retail Maximum Prices) Order, 1940 (S.R. & O.,
No. 150) (revoked 30 April).

30 Apr.

Milk {Provisional Retail Prices)
and Wales) Order, 1940

{England
638

Retail price of milk in any district in England and
Wales must not exceed the price which ruled one year
earlier for the same kind or description of milk in the
same district; revocation of Milk (Provisional Retail
Prices) Order, 1940 (S.R. & O., No. 197).

30 May

Milk
1940

{Retail Delivery)

Restriction

Order,
847

Retail delivery of milk prohibited before 6.30
a.m. in the Metropolitan Police district, the City of
London and all towns in England and Wales with a
population exceeding 250,000.

12 June

Condensed Milk and Milk Powder {Control)
Order, 1940

957

This Order restricts deliveries of condensed milk
and milk powder by manufacturers and importers
during any specified period ; restriction does not apply
to the sale of condensed milk in containers not exceeding 20 ounces or to the sales of condensed milk
or milk powder for use in bread and infant or invalid
foods, or for use in hospitals and welfare institutions;
manufacturers of chocolate, confectionery or ice
cream and other trade users, except manufacturers
of infant or invalid food, are restricted during any
specified period in their use of condensed milk or milk
powder to 50 per cent, of the total milk solids content
in any product manufactured by them during the
corresponding period of 1938.

27 July

Cream {Control) Order, 1940

1357

Manufacture of sterilised cream prohibited; sale
and purchase of any cream a t a price exceeding the
average price during May 1940 prohibited.

31 Aug.

Condensed Milk {Distribution) Order, 1940
Requires every trader in condensed milk to deliver
in any calendar month, a t the request of any customer
who purchased condensed milk from him during " t h e
basic period", not more than a specified percentage
of one-twelfth of the quantity of condensed milk of
each description delivered during the basic period.

1606

220

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

1940

Title

S.R. & O.

No.
4 Sept.

Order amending the Condensed Milk and Milk
Powder (Control) Order, 1940

1621

The restrictions upon the use of condensed milk
and milk powder for manufacturing purposes imposed
by the Principal Order are extended to bread.

4 Sept.

Condensed Milk (Bulk) (Maximum
Order, 1940

Prices)
1623

Schedule of maximum prices for bulk condensed
milk prescribed.

25 Sept.

Cream (Production and Sales) Order, 1940

1714

Manufacture, sale or purchase of any cream, or
of any cream cheese or ice cream containing cream,
prohibited.

25 Sept.

Milk Marketing Board
Functions) Order, 1940

(Modification

of
1716

Pcwers of Milk Marketing Board extended and
its activities enlarged, subject to the direction of the
Minister of Food. Analogous Orders (Nos. 1717,
1718 and 1719) apply to the Scottish Milk Marketing
Board; the Aberdeen and District Marketing Board;
and the North of Scotland Marketing Board.

4 Oct.

Condensed Milk
Order, 1940

(Licensing

and

Control)
1788

Manufacture of condensed milk prohibited, except
under licence.

26 Oct.

Condensed Milk (Milk Content) Order, 1940

1896

Prohibits, except under licence, dealings in fullcream unsweetened condensed milk for human consumption, unless it contains not less than 7.8 per
cent, by weight of milk fat nor less than 25 per cent.
b y weight of all milk solids including fat.

30 Oct.

Milk Powder (Licensing and Control) Order,
1940.

1912

Manufacture of milk powder prohibited, except
under licence.

18 Nov.

Order amending the Milk
Restriction Order, 1940

(Retail Delivery)
2006

Hour changed to 7.30 a.m. and scope extended
to towns with a population exceeding 10,000.

23 Nov.

Ice Cream (Restriction) Order, 1940
The use of milk in the manufacture for sale of
ice cream prohibited, except under licence.

2028

CHRONOLOGY OF FOOD CONTROL
1940

4 Dec.

Title

221
S.R. & O.
No.

Synthetic Cream (Restriction) Order, 1940

2089

Prohibits use of milk or milk products, except
under licence, in the manufacture for sale of synthetic
cream, and the sale or purchase of milk or milk products for use in such manufacture, and the sale or
purchase of synthetic cream containing milk or milk
products.
1941

26 Feb.

Milk Powder (Prescribed Price) Order, 1941

259

Except under licence, the sale or purchase of milk
powder, except a t the prescribed prices, is prohibited.

27 Mar.

Use of Milk (Restriction) Order, 1941

431

The use of milk, milk powder or condensed milk
in the manufacture of biscuits, bread, buns, pastries,
rolls, scones and other similar articles, ice cream, soft
and curd cheese, sweetmeats (including sugar confectionery and chocolate) and synthetic cream, prohibited.

9 Apr.

Sale of Milk (Restriction) Order, 1941

503

Provision made for a cut of one-seventh in the
supplies of milk to non-priority consumers.

18 Apr.

Milk (National Scheme) Order, 1941

541

Statutory provision made for the working of the
National Milk Scheme.

9 May

Order amending the Use of Milk
Order, 1941

(Restriction)
657

Cakes added to the list of bakers' products in
which the use of milk, condensed milk or milk powder
is prohibited.

2 July

General Licence under the Use of Milk (Restriction) Order, 1941

946

This licence authorises the use of milk, except
condensed milk or milk powder, in the manufacture
of soft cheese and curd cheese.

11 Oct.

Milk (Scheme of Supply) Order, 1941

1604

Sale of Milk (Restriction) Order (S.R. & O. 1941,
No. 503), as amended, revoked, and provision made
for t h e supply, sale and purchase of milk in Great
Britain in accordance with a prescribed scheme.

1 Nov.

Condensed Milk
Order, 1941

(American)

Distribution

Provision made for control of the sales of American condensed milk in Great Britain.

1718

222

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

1941

12 Nov.

Title

S.R. & O.
No.

General Licence under the Use of
(Restriction) Order, 1941

Milk
1809

Bakers authorised to use skimmed milk powder
in manufacturing biscuits, bread, buns, pastries, rolls,
scones, cakes, or similar articles.

19 Nov.

Milk Powder
1941.

{Maximum

Prices)

Order,
1853

Revokes the Milk Powder (Prescribed Prices)
Order, 1941, as amended, and extends control of the
prices of milk powder.

16 Dec.

Order amending the Food {Restriction on
Dealings) Order, 1941

2025

Liquid milk added to the list of specified foods in
the Principal Order.

27 Dec.

Milk {Diversion) Order, 1941

2126

This Order requires all suppliers to comply with
the directions of the Ministry on the purchase, sale
and disposal of milk ¡returns are required from suppliers setting forth their past supplies and anticipated
needs of milk.

Table VI. Cheese
1939

30 Dec.

Title

Cheddar and
Order, 1939

Cheshire

S.R. & O.
No.

Cheese

{Returns)
1893

Returns required of stocks of specified cheeses of
persons in possession of aggregate quantity of 25
tons or more.
1940

22 May

Cheese (Maximum Prices) Order, 1940

772

Maximum first-hand wholesale and retail prices
prescribed for home-produced and imported cheese.

27 July

Cheese (Licensing and Control) Order, 1940

1367

Manufacture of specified cheeses prohibited except under licence; "specified cheese" is any cheese
produced in the United Kingdom other t h a n soft,
curd, cream or processed cheese.
1941

8 Jan.

Food {Current Prices) Order, 1941
Sale of processed cheese prohibited, except under
licence, a t a price exceeding that a t which similar
food was sold on 2 December 1940.

23

CHRONOLOGY OF FOOD CONTROL

1941
3 May

Title

223

S.R. & O.
No.
626

Cheese {Rationing) Order, 1941
This Order declares cheese to be a rationed food
under the Rationing Order, 1939 (S.R. & O., No.
1856); cheese ration set a t 1 ounce per week.

17 May

Processed Cheese {Control and
Prices) Order, 1941

Maximum
697

Controls the manufacture of and fixes maximum
prices for processed cheese; manufacture of processed
cheese is prohibited, except under licence.

2 July

Soft Cheese and Curd Cheese
Retail Prices) Order, 1941

{Maximum
945

Maximum retail prices for soft cheese and curd
cheese prescribed.

24 Oct.

Order amending the Food {Restrictions on
Meals in Establishments) Order, 1941

1672

Amends the definitions in the Principal Order so
as to exclude cheese from the specified foods which
may be served as part of a main dish; it permits
cheese to be served as part of a subsidiary dish in
any quantity.

11 Nov.

Order prescribing Appointed Days for the
purposes of the Food {Restriction on Dealings)
Order, 1941

1790

1 December 1941 fixed as the date on which the
Principal Order shall come into force for cheese.

Table VII.
1939

13 Sept.

Eggs

Title

S.R. & O.
No.

Eggs {Maximum Prices) Order, 1939

1170

Wholesale and retail prices for eggs prescribed.

20 Oct.

Eggs {Maximum Prices) {No. 3) Order, 1939

1477

New maximum wholesale and retail prices for
eggs prescribed; in addition, the maximum prices
which may be charged by an importer of eggs to a
wholesaler are established.

20 Dec.

Order amending the Eggs {Maximum
{No. 4) Order, 1939

Prices)

Maximum prices prescribed for home-produced
eggs withdrawn.

1840

224

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

1940

Title

S.R. & O .
No.

18 Mar.

General Licence under the Acquisition of Food
{Excessive Quantities) Order, 1939

393

Persons authorised to acquire eggs for domestic
preservation notwithstanding the Acquisition of Food
Order.

21 Mar.

Frozen Eggs {Maximum Prices) Order, 1940

417

Maximum prices for frozen eggs, frozen whites of
eggs and frozen yolks of eggs imported into the United
Kingdom prescribed.

13 July

Imported Eggs {Licensing and Control) Order,
1940

1269

Sale or purchase of imported eggs prohibited
except under licence.
1941

1 Jan.

Egg Products {Maximum Prices) Order, 1941

4

Maximum prices for specified egg products prescribed.

29 Jan.

Home Produced Eggs {Maximum
Order, 1941

Prices)
117

Consolidates the provisions of the previous order
and its amendments controlling the prices of homeproduced eggs, reduces the maximum prices of homeproduced fresh hen eggs and fixes, for the first time,
the maximum prices for home-produced duck eggs.

29 Jan.

Imported
1941

Eggs {Maximum

Prices)

Order,
118

Consolidates the provisions of the previous order
and its amendments controlling the prices of imported
eggs, reduces the maximum prices of Eire fresh hen
eggs and fixes, for the first time, maximum prices for .
imported duck eggs.

19 Mar.

Order amending the Imported Eggs
mum Prices) Order, 1941

{Maxi375

This Order provides t h a t no person may sell to
any other person and t h a t no person may buy an
aggregate of more than five dozen eggs during any
week a t a price exceeding the appropriate maximum
wholesale price.

20 June

Eggs {Control and Prices) Order, 1941
Revocation of previous Egg Control Orders and
new provisions made for the control of sales and
prices of both home-produced and imported eggs;
establishes a comprehensive scheme for obtaining
control over egg supplies and distribution.

888

CHRONOLOGY OF FOOD CONTROL
1941

22 Oct.

Title

225
S.R. & O.
No.

Egg Products {Control and Maximum
Order, 1941

Prices)
1655

Revokes the Egg Products (Maximum Prices)
Order, 1941 (S.R. & O. 1941, No. 4) and makes new
provision for the control of the sale and prices of egg
products.

1 Dec.

Order amending the Eggs {Control and Prices)
{No. 3) Order, 1941

1935

The Principal Order is amended to provide for
control of the sale and prices of home-produced eggs
preserved before 4 December 1941.

Table VIII. Vegetables
1939

9 Sept.

Title

S.R. & O.
No.

Potatoes {Provisional Prices) Order, 1939

1149

Maximum prices for potatoes sold for human
consumption prescribed.

29 Nov.

Seed Potatoes ' {Maximum
1939

Prices)

Order,
1724

Maximum prices for seed potatoes prescribed and
compulsory top and bottom riddles fixed.

13 Dec.

Potatoes {Sales by Growers) Order, 1939

1806

Certain of the regulatory powers exercised by the
Potato Marketing Board are taken over by the
Minister of Food; growers required to observe regulations of the Ministry of Food and must sell only to
licenced buyers.
1940

8' Feb.

Potatoes {1939 Crop) {Control) Order, 1940

192

Maximum and minimum growers' prices for ware
and seed potatoes, maximum wholesale and retail
prices for ware potatoes and maximum wholesale
margins for seed potatoes, specified; Potatoes (Provisional Prices) Order, 1939, Seed Potatoes (Maximum Prices) Order, 1939, and Potatoes (Sale by
Growers) Order, 1939 (S.R. & O. 1939, Nos. 1149,
1724 and 1806) revoked.

10 Feb.

Potato {1939 Crop) {Charges) Order, 1940
This Order provides for the establishment of an
insurance fund to be used to ensure a reasonable
return to potato growers; certain specified charges
on sales will be made to make up the fund.

203

226

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

1940

Title

S.R. & O.
No.

2 Apr.

Imported Potatoes {Maximum Prices) Order,
1940

473

Maximum wholesale and retail prices for imported
potatoes from any source other than the Channel
Islands prescribed for specified periods.

30 Apr.

New Potatoes
1940

{Maximum

Prices)

Order,
637

Schedules of maximum growers', wholesale and
retail prices for new potatoes grown in the United
Kingdom and of maximum wholesale and retail
prices for new potatoes grown in the Channel Islands.

26 June

Fruit and Vegetables {Canning) Order, 1940

1077

Requires canners to pack prescribed minimum
filled weights of fruit and vegetables in specified containers, the dimensions and capacities of which are
set out in the order; minimum weights of different
varieties of fruits and vegetables, respectively, which
may be packed in each of the specified containers are
set out in the order; syrup densities for canned fruit
prescribed.

30 July

Potatoes {1940 Crop) {Control) Order, 1940

1384

Provision made for the control of the 1940 potato
crop and prescribed schedules and prices set up.

31 July

Potatoes {1940 Crop) {Charges) Order, 1940

1388

Prescribes the charges to be levied on sales of
potatoes of the 1940 crop in order to maintain the
Potato Fund.

28 Oct.

Onions {Maximum Prices) Order, 1940

1904

First-hand, wholesale and retail prices for onions
prescribed.
1941

8 Jan.

Food {Current Prices) Order, 1941

23

Sale of canned and bottled vegetables prohibited,
except under licence, a t a price exceeding t h a t a t
which they were sold on 2 December 1940.

7 Apr.

Imported Tomatoes {Maximum Prices) Order,
1941

489

Maximum first-hand, wholesale and retail prices
for imported tomatoes prescribed.

30 Apr.

Canned Vegetables {Maximum Prices) Order,
1941
Maximum first-hand, wholesale and retail prices
for specified varieties of canned vegetables prescribed.

605

CHRONOLOGY OF FOOD CONTROL,

1941
10 May

Title
New Potatoes
1941

{Maximum

227

S.R. & O.
No.
Prices)

Order,
659

Maximum growers', wholesale and retail prices
for new potatoes prescribed; maximum prices are
reduced from time to time as the season advances.

17 June

Home Grown Tomatoes {Maximum
Order, 1941

Prices)
858

Maximum prices for home-grown tomatoes on
sale by growers, primary and secondary wholesalers,
and retailers, prescribed.

17 July

Green Onions
1941

{Maximum

Prices)

Order,
1031

Prices of green (or salad) onions controlled.

22 July

Potatoes {1941 Crop) {Control) Order, 1941

1060

Control of the 1941 potato crop and maximum
and minimum growers' and wholesale prices, and
maximum retail prices, prescribed.

24 July

Threshed Home Grown Peas {Control and
Maximum Prices) Order, 1941

1081

This order provides for the control of sales and
prices of threshed home-grown peas of the 1941 crop
and of pea pickings.

28 July

Home Grown Onions {1941 Crop) {Control)
Order, 1941

1120

T h e sale of onions by a grower, except to an
authorised agent, and the purchase of onions from a
grower, except by an authorised agent, prohibited.

20 Aug.

Order amending the Onions
{Maximum
Prices) Order, 1940, the Soft Fruits {Maximum Prices) Order, 1941, and the Home
Grown Tomatoes {Maximum Prices) Order,
1941

1240

Imposes further restrictions on the sale of
tomatoes and makes certain changes in the maximum
price provisions for tomatoes and soft fruits and
certain general amendments applicable to tomatoes,
soft fruits, and onions; except under licence, a grower
may sell his tomatoes only to specified classes of
buyers.

27 Aug.

Preservation of Vegetables and Vegetable
Products {Licensing and Control) Order,
1941
Preservation of vegetables and certain specified
vegetable products controlled.

1299

228

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

1941
17 Oct.

Title
Potatoes {1941 Crop) {Charges) Order, 1941

S.R. & O.
No.
1630

Provides for the imposition and recovery of certain
charges in connection with the Potato Control Scheme
contained in the Principal Control Order.

24 Oct.

Drying of Vegetables {Licensing and Control)
Order, 1941

1673

Drying of vegetables b y artificial means controlled.

28 Oct.

Home Grown Carrots {1941 Crop) {Control)
Order, 1941

1692

Sales of carrots of the 1941 crop controlled; growers
authorised to sell only to authorised agents.

3 Nov.

Home Grown
Order, 1941

Leeks

{Maximum

Prices)
1723

Prices of home-grown leeks controlled.

6 Dec.

Directions under the Food Transport Order,
1941

1971

Prescribes a route b y which potatoes going from
certain specified areas to other specified areas must
be sent.
1942

5 Jan.

General Licence under the Home Grown Carrots {1941 Crop) {Control) Order, 1941

9

This licence authorises bunched carrots grown
by the seller to be sold or bought otherwise than by
retail, free from t h e restrictions imposed by t h e
Principal Order.

7 Jan.

Canned Fruit and Vegetables {Prohibition of
Retail Sales) Order, 1942

22

Prohibits the sale of specified canned goods subject to directions, authorisations or licences by the
Ministry.

15 Jan.

Vegetables and Vegetable Products {Canning,
Bottling and Freezing) {Control and Maximum Prices) Order, 1942
Consolidates and amends previous orders controlling the canning, bottling and freezing of vegetables and vegetable products and the prices for
canned vegetables; new regulations are made on the
filling and contents of cans and new varieties added to
the price schedules.

88

229

CHRONOLOGY OF FOOD CONTROL

Table IX. Fruits and Preserves
1939

7 Sept.

Title

S.R. & O.
No.

Dried Fruits {Control) Order, 1939

1106

Stocks of dried fruits arriving in the United Kingdom requisitioned; returns required of stocks of
dried fruit.

7 Sept.

Dried Fruits {Provisional Prices) Order, 1939

1107

Prices of specified dried fruits restricted to current
prices.

19 Sept.

Dried Fruits {Maximum Prices) Order, 1939

1244

Wholesale and retail maximum prices for dried
fruits fixed.
1940
22 J a n .

Dried

Fruits

{Maximum

Prices)

Order,

1940

.

93

Revocation of previous maximum prices orders
(S.R. & O. 1939, Nos. 1479 and 1607); new scale of
maximum prices fixed and provision made for retail
price margins.
13 M a y

Oranges

{Maximum

Prices)

Order,

1940

719

Prescribes a schedule of maximum first-hand,
wholesale and retail prices for oranges; oranges must
be sold only by weight.
26 J u n e

Fruit

and

Vegetables

{Canning)

Order,

1940

1077

Requires canners to pack prescribed minimum
filled weights of fruit and vegetables in specified containers, the dimensions and capacities of which are
set out in the order; minimum weights of different
varieties of fruits and vegetables, respectively, which
may be packed in each of the specified containers are
set out in the order; syrup densities for canned fruit
prescribed.

20 Aug.

Jam {Maximum Prices) Order, 1940

1527

Quality standards prescribed for certain varieties
of jams and sale of these varieties prohibited unless
they conform to the specified standards; maximum
retail prices prescribed for each of the varieties and
quality standards.

28 Oct.

Lemons {Maximum Prices) Order, 1940

1903

Maximum first-hand, wholesale and retail prices
for lemons prescribed.

2 Dec.

Bananas {Maximum Prices) Order, 1940
Maximum first-hand, wholesale and retail prices
for bananas prescribed.

2063

230

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

1940

14 Dec.

Title

S.R. & O.
No.

Apples (Home Produced) (Maximum
Order, 1940

Prices)
2121

Maximum growers', wholesale and retail prices
for apples grown in the United Kingdom prescribed.
1941

11 Jan.

Canned
1941

Fruit

(Maximum

Prices)

Order,
38

Maximum first-hand, wholesale and retail prices
for specified varieties of canned fruits prescribed.

11 Jan.

Order amending the Food (Current Prices)
Order, 1941

39

Marmalade added to the list of specified foods in
the Principal Order.

13 Jan.

Jam (Maximum Prices) Order, 1941

41

Maximum retail prices for home-produced jam
and maximum first-hand, wholesale and retail prices
for imported jam prescribed; all varieties of homeproduced jams brought under control.

12 Feb.

Bitter
1941

Oranges (Maximum

Prices)

Order,
179

Maximum wholesale and retail prices for bitter
oranges prescribed.

20 Feb.

Marmalade (Maximum Prices) Order, 1941

219

Maximum first-hand, wholesale and retail prices
for home-produced and imported marmalade prescribed; this order prohibits the sale of marmalade
unless it conforms to one of three quality standards
laid down in the order.

15 Mar.

Jam, Marmalade, Syrup and Treacle (Control and Distribution) Order, 1941

353

Provides for registration of consumers for jam,
marmalade, syrup and treacle.

28 Apr.

Jam, Marmalade and Preserved Fruit
censing and Control) Order, 1941

(Li-

Manufacture of jam, marmalade, fruit pulp, fruit
juice, or preserved fruit, prohibited, except under
licence; exemption from this provision is given to
anyone (a) using not more than 20 cwt. of fruit in the
twelve months beginning 1 May 1941 or in any successive period of twelve months thereafter; (b) making
cider or other apple juice products; or (c) making
jam, marmalade, fruit pulp or fruit juice or preserving
fruit otherwise than for sale.

591

CHRONOLOGY Of FOOD CONTROL
1941

30 Apr.

Title

231
S.R. & O.
No.

Soft Fruits (Maximum Prices) Order, 1941

607

Maximum growers', wholesale and retail prices
for specified varieties of soft fruits prescribed; picking of specified fruits prohibited before a date to be
fixed by the Minister of Food.

9 June

Fruit Pulp (Control and Maximum
Order, 1941

Prices)
814

Provides for the control of manufacture and sales
of home-produced fruit pulp, and prescribes maximum
prices for the different varieties.
9 June

Preserves

(Rationing)

Order,

1941

815

Preserves declared to be a rationed food under
t h e Rationing Order, 1939, as amended; "preserves"
are defined as jam, marmalade, syrup and treacle.

7 Aug.

Home Grown Plums
Order, 1941

(Maximum

Prices)
1177

Provides for the control of sales and prices of
home-grown plums of the 1941 crop.

25 Aug.

Order amending the Soft Fruits
Prices) Order, 1941

(Maximum
1278

Provision made for the control of prices of blackberries; the use of blackberries and blackberry pulp
or products prohibited, except under licence, for the
preparation of other than human food.

2 Sept.

Home Grown Apples
Order, 1941

(Maximum

Prices)
1339

New provisions made for the control of sales and
prices of home-grown apples of the 1941 crop; revocation of Apples (Home-Produced) (Maximum Prices)
Order, 1940 (S.R. & O., No. 2121), as amended.

18 Oct.

Imported Apples (Maximum
1941

Prices) Order,
1636

Makes provision for the control of sales and prices
of imported apples.

18 Oct.

Order amending the Preserves
Order, 1941

(Rationing)
1638

Mincemeat included in the definition of preserves.

18 Oct.

Mincemeat and Fruit Curd (Control and
Maximum Prices) Order, 1941
Makes provision for control of the manufacture
and prices of mincemeat and fruit curd.

1639

232
1941

4 Nov.

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

Title

Marmalade {Maximum
Order, 1941

S.R. & O.
No.

Prices)

{No.

2)
1735

Revokes the previous Marmalade (Maximum
Prices) Order and prescribes maximum first-hand,
wholesale and retail prices for both home-produced
and imported marmalade.

4 Nov.

Jam {Maximum Prices) {No. 2) Order, 1941

1736

Revokes the previous Jam (Maximum Prices)
Orders and prescribes maximum first-hand, wholesale and retail prices for both home-produced and
imported jam; licences granted under the previous
Control Order, as amended, continue in force; the
provisions of the previous Control Order, as amended,
are revised in minor respects, and standardised.
1942
7 Jan.

15 J a n .

21 J a n .

24 Jan.

Canned Fruit and Vegetables
{Prohibition
of Retail Sales) Order, 1942
Prohibits the sale of specified canned fruits and
vegetables from 12 January 1942.
Fruit {Canning, Bottling and Freezing) {Control and Maximum
Prices) Order, 1942
Consolidates and amends previous orders controlling the canning, bottling and freezing of fruit
and the prices of canned fruits and adds new regulations regarding the filling and content of cans.
Dried Fruits {Control and Maximum
Prices)
Order, 1942
Revokes the previous orders as amended and
makes new provision for the control of prices of dried
fruits; maximum prices prescribed at all stages of
sale; dried fruits classified into three price groups;
prices are inclusive and replace the "built-up" structure of the previous orders.

Order amending the Food {Points Rationing)
Order, 1941

22

87

112

130

Dried fruits included in the Points Rationing
Scheme.

Table X. Fish
1939

6 Sept.

Title

Canned Salmon
{Provisional
Prices) Order, 1939

Maximum

Maximum wholesale and retail prices of canned
salmon established.

S.R. & O.
No.

1104

233

CHRONOLOGY OF FOOD CONTROL
1939

6 Sept.

Title

S.R. & O.
No.

Fish (Provisional Control) Order, 1939

1128

Wholesale dealings made subject to control of the
Ministry of Food; retail sales prohibited except by a
fishmonger registered with the White Fish Commission, a fish fryer similarly registered, or caterers serving fish as part of a meal; unreasonable charges prohibited (revoked 22 September).

22 Sept.

Fish (Provisional
Order, 1939

Conirol)

(Revocation)
1254

Revokes Fish (Provisional Control) Order (S.R.
& 0 . 1939, No. 1128).

14 Oct.

Herrings (Maximum Prices) Order, 1939

1426

Maximum landing, coastal and inland wholesale
and the retail prices of fresh, sprinkled, iced or roused
herrings, and the maximum prices of kippered,
bloatered, smoked or red herrings prescribed.

19 Oct.

Canned Salmon (Returns) Order, 1939

1467

Returns of dealers other than retail dealers of
canned salmon required.

22 Nov.

Canned Fish (Returns) Order, 1939

1674

Returns required of stocks of specified canned
fish.
1940

19 Feb.

Fish (Chilled or Frozen) (Returns)
1940

Order,
223

Returns of stocks of chilled or frozen fish required
to be made fortnightly by all persons holding such
stocks in cold store and by all persons to whom such
fish has been consigned or is in transit except where
consigned to a retail shop.

19 June

Herrings (Control of Sales) Order, 1940

1024

Prohibits, subject to directions issued by the
Minister, and except under licence of the Minister,
the sale or purchase of herrings on a first landing in
Great Britain.

19 June

Herrings (Licensing of Curers) Order, 1940

1025

Prohibits the curing of herrings, except under
licence.

31 Oct.

Cod Fillets (Maximum

Prices) Order, 1940

1927

Maximum prices for imported cod fillets prescribed.

I

234

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

1941

Title

S.R. & O.
No.

13 Jan.

Order amending the Food (Current Prices)
Order, 1941

43

Canned fish added to the list of specified foods
in t h e Principal Order.

26 Mar.

Fish Sales (Control) Order, 1941

417

Sale of fish by wholesale prohibited, except under
licence; includes all sea and fresh water fish, except
herrings.

29 Mar.

Icelandic Cod (Maximum Prices) Order, 1941

440

Maximum prices for Icelandic cod prescribed.

9 Apr.

Imported Canned Pilchards and
(Maximum Prices) Order, 1941

Herrings
502

Maximum prices prescribed for imported canned
pilchards and imported canned herrings.

23 Apr.

Canned Salmon
1941

(Maximum

Prices) Order,
562

Revokes previous orders controlling prices of
canned salmon and makes new provisions for price
control; maximum wholesale and retail prices for
different varieties of canned salmon prescribed.

14 May

Canned Sardines (Maximum
1941

Prices) Order,
671

Maximum prices for canned sardines prescribed.

27 June

Fish (Maximum Prices) Order, 1941

924

Fixes maximum prices for all fish, except shellfish, salmon, trout and pickled herrings; prices fixed
a t four stages of sale.

8 July

Canned Fish (Control) Order, 1941

975

Canning of any fish or the sale of any canned fish
by wholesale prohibited, except under licence.

25 Sept.

Fish Sales (Charges) Order, 1941

1495

Provides for the imposition and recovery of
certain charges in connection with the Fish Control
Scheme.

12 Nov.

Imported Canned Fish (Maximum
Order, 1941

Prices)

Revokes previous orders concerning canned fish
of various kinds and makes new provision for t h e
control of the prices of salmon, herrings and pilchards
and brings certain other varieties of imported canned
fish under price control.

1791

235

CHRONOLOGY OP FOOD CONTROL
1941

Title

12 Nov.

S.R. & O.
No.

Foods {Points Rationing) Order, 1941

1808

Provides for the rationing of certain specified foods
including several varieties of canned fish in accordance
with the points scheme.

26 Nov.

Order amending the Fish {Maximum
{No. 2) Order, 1941

Prices)
1904

Provides for control of the prices of smoked salted
fish.

26 Nov.

Wet Salted Fish
Order, 1941

{Licensing

of

Smokers)
1905

Makes provision for licensing and inspection of
smokers of wet salted cod, haddock, ling, saithe, and
tusk.
1942

3 Jan.

Fish {Maximum Prices) Order, 1942

4

Revokes the previous Maximum Prices Order for
fish and makes new provision for control of the sales
and prices of all fish except shell-fish, sturgeon,
salmon, trout, eels, smelt, shad and whitebait; consolidates and amends the provisions of the previous
order.

7 Jan.

Fish Sales {Charges) Order, 1942

16

Revokes t h e previous Fish Sales (Charges) Order
and makes new provision for the imposition and recovery of certain charges in connection with the Fish
Control Scheme.

Table XI. Sugar, Glucose and Invert Sugar
1939

S.R. & o .
No.

Title

5 Sept.

Sugar {Provisional Prices) Order, 1939

1047

9 Sept.

Sugar {Maximum Prices) Order, 1939

1150

Maximum wholesale and retail prices set for sugar.
9 Sept.

Sugar

{Requisition

and Control)

Order,

1939

1129

Stocks of sugar requisitioned and dealers made
subject to directions of the Minister of Food.

23 Sept.

Liquid Glucose and Invert Sugar
Wholesale Prices) Order, 1939

{Maximum

Maximum wholesale prices for liquid glucose and
invert sugar established.

1276

236
1939

9 Nov.

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN
Title

Invert Sugar {Maximum
Order, 1939

S.R. & O.
No.

Wholesale Prices)
1600

Price of liquid glucose decontrolled; new maximum wholesale prices for invert sugar prescribed;
revocation of previous order.
1940

6 Jan.

Directions under the Rationing Order, 1939

13

Sugar ration prescribed.

30 May

Glucose {Control) Order, 1940

848

Manufacture or sale by wholesale of glucose and
all dealings in any quantity of glucose exceeding 5
cwt. outside the United Kingdom prohibited except
under licence; owners of any quantity of glucose exceeding 5 cwt. required to make returns of their
stocks to the Ministry of Food.

30 May

Glucose {Provisional Prices) Order, 1940

849

T h e sale of any glucose a t a price exceeding the
average price during the four weeks immediately
prior to the coming into force of this order prohibited,
except under licence.

25 June

Sugar {Control) Order, 1940

1068

Prohibits, except under licence, the sale, supply
or purchase of sugar by a refiner or manufacturer of
sugar, by a wholesaler or by any manufacturer using
sugar.

11 July

Sugar {Restriction of Use) Order, 1940

1237

Prohibits, except under licence, the placing of
sugar on the exterior of any cake after baking; manufacture of candied peel or crystallised cherries prohibited, except drained or cut peel or glacé cherries.

30 Sept.

General Licence under the Sugar {Restriction
of Use) Order, 1940

1763

This licence permits, until further notice, any
person to p u t sugar in the form of icing and cake
ornaments and decorations on the exterior of cakes
made for export; it further permits the use of these
ornaments and decorations on the exterior of cakes
made for consumption in the United Kingdom until
31 December 1940.
1941

13 Jan.

Syrup and Treacle {Maximum Prices) Order,
1941
Maximum retail prices for syrup and treacle prescribed.

42

CHRONOLOGY OF FOOD CONTROL

1941

10 Apr.

237
S.R. & O.
No.

Title

Liquid
1941

Glucose {Maximum

Prices) Order,
510

Revokes the Liquid Glucose (Maximum Wholesale Prices) Order, 1940 (S.R. & O., 1940, No. 2198),
and fixes maximum prices for glucose a t various stages
of sale in order to provide margins for distributing
dealers.

15 Sept.

Sugar Confectionery {Maximum
Order, 1941

Prices)
1435

Provides for control of the sale and retail prices
of sugar confectionery and for the marking of certain
classified products.
8 Oct.

Order
amending
Dealings)
Order,

the
1941

Food

{Restriction

on
1580

Adds chocolate and chocolate confectionery and
sugar confectionery to the list of foods for which a
licence to trade, except by retail, is required.

Table XII. Tea
1939

5 Sept.

Title

Tea {Control) Order, 1939

S.R. & O.
No.

1045

Stocks of tea requisitioned and importers made
subject to directions of the Ministry of Food.

5 Sept.

Tea {Provisional Prices) Order, 1939

1046

Prices of tea restricted to those current during
the seven days ended 26 August.
1940

29 Jan.

Tea {Provisional Prices) {Revocation) Order,
1940

131

Revocation of previous order stabilising tea prices
(S.R. & O. 1939, No. 1046).

6 July

Tea {Provisional Prices) Order, 1940

1180

Sale or purchase of any tea prohibited, except
under licence, a t a price exceeding t h a t a t which tea
of a similar description, kind or quality was sold
under similar conditions of sale on 1 July 1940.

6 July

Tea {Rationing) Order, 1940
The Rationing Order, 1939, and appropriate
directions under the order applied to tea.

1181

238

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

1941

17 June

Title

S.R. & O.
No.

Tea (Current Prices) Order, 1941

859

Revokes the Tea (Provisional Prices) Order, 1940
(S.R. & O., No. 1180), and makes new provisions for
the control of tea prices; sale of tea prohibited, except
under licence, a t a price exceeding that a t which it
was sold on 1 July 1940.

15 July

Tea (Licensing and Control) Order, 1941

1022

Prohibits the sale of tea by wholesale, except
under licence of the Minister.

Table XIII. Miscellaneous
1940

Title

2 Apr.

Potable Spirits (Licensing and Control) Order,
1940

S R

. & o.
No.

472

Manufacture of spirits from a mash of cereal
grains prohibited except under licence from t h e
Ministry of Food.

10 May

Farina (Control and Provisional
Order, 1940

Prices)
706

Prohibition, except under licence and at current
prices, of all dealings in farina; farina is defined as
starch made from potatoes.

9 Aug.

Raw Cocoa (West
Prices) Order, 1940

African)

(Maximum
1458

Maximum price for West African raw cocoa
beans prescribed.

16 Sept.

Malt (Restriction) Order, 1940

1668

Provides that, except under licence, no maltster
shall acquire any cereal for steeping, and no brewer
shall acquire any malt.

2 Oct.

Honey (Maximum Prices) Order, 1940

1770

Maximum prices prescribed for purchase by an
importer of honey produced in certain Empire
countries.
18 D e c .

Starch

and

Dextrine

(Control)

Order,

1940

2144

Regulations providing for the control of starch
and dextrine.
1941

29 Jan.

Nuts (Maximum Prices) Order, 1941
Maximum wholesale and retail prices for whole
nuts, n u t kernels and desiccated coconut prescribed.

120

CHRONOLOGY OF FOOD CONTROL
1941

12 Feb.

Title

239
S.R. & O.
No.

Vitamin Bi (Control) Order, 1941

183

The manufacture, production, sale or disposal of
vitamin Bx prohibited; no person may mix vitamin
Bi with wheaten flour or other substance except
under licence; this order does not apply to the manufacture, production, sale or use of vitamin Bi for
medical, pharmaceutical or scientific purposes.

15 Feb.

Drinking Chocolate (Maximum Prices) Order,
1941

196

Maximum prices for drinking chocolate on sale
to a retailer and on sale by a retailer prescribed.

1 Mar.

Coffee (Maximum Retail Prices) Order, 1941

272

Maximum retail prices prescribed for raw, roasted
or ground coffee.

12 Mar.

Cocoa Butter (Maximum Prices) Order, 1941

325

Maximum prices for cocoa butter prescribed.

16 Apr.

Nut Kernels (Control and Maximum
Order, 1941

Prices)
534

Maximum prices prescribed for packeted and
processed nut kernels.

3 May

Coffee (Returns) Order, 1941

627

Owners of more than one ton net of coffee required to make returns to the Minister of Food.

14 May

Cocoa, Chocolate and Sugar Confectionery
(Licensing and Control) Order, 1941

674

Prohibits, except under licence, the manufacture
by way of trade or business of (a) sugar confectionery;
(6) chocolate and chocolate confectionery; (c) cocoa
and drinking chocolate; (d) chocolate couverture;
and (e) cocoa butter.

14 May

Vitamin C (Control) Order, 1941

676

Manufacture or sale of vitamin C prohibited,
except under licence.

7 June

Vitamin A (Control) Order, 1941

810

Manufacture or processing of vitamin A of specified potency and the use of any vitamin A prohibited,
except under licence; this restriction does not apply
to the use of vitamin A for medicinal, pharmaceutical
or scientific purposes.

18 June

Raw Cocoa (Control) Order, 1941
Sale or purchase of any raw cocoa beans held in
the United Kingdom prohibited, except under
licence.

865

240
1941
20 Aug.

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

Title
Honey {Maximum Prices) Order, 1941

S.R. & O.
No.
1242

Maximum prices for home-produced and imported honey prescribed.

23 Aug.

Pickles and Sauces {Control and
Prices) Order, 1941

Maximum
1263

Makes provision for control oí the manufacture
and prices of pickles and sauces.

27 Aug.

Pepper {Maximum Prices) Order, 1941

1298

Makes provision for control of the sales and prices
of pepper.

15 Sept.

Chocolate and Chocolate Confectionery {Maximum Prices) Order, 1941

1436

Provides for control of the sale and retail prices
of chocolate and chocolate confectionery, and for the
marking of certain classified products.

5 Nov.

Starch Food Powders {Control) Order, 1941

1742

Makes provision for control of the manufacture
and sales of cornflour, custard powder and blancmange powder.'

6 Nov.

Order prescribing Appointed Days for the
purposes of the Sugar Confectionery {Maximum Prices) Order, 1941, and the Chocolate
and Chocolate Confectionery {Maximum
Prices) Order, 1941

1754

Dates ranging from 17 November 1941 to 12
January 1942 on which the Principal Orders come
into effect.

10 Dec.

Starch and Dextrine {Control) Order, 1941

1991

New provisions made for control of the use, sale
and purchase of starch and dextrine and for the keeping of records; the use of these products restricted for
many purposes.

15 Dec.

General Licence under the Food {Restriction
on Dealings) Order, 1941

2022

All persons licensed by the Minister under the
Starch Food Powders (Control) Order, 1941, to manufacture or blend cornflour, blancmange powder or
custard powder may sell these products.

30 Dec.

Saccharin {Control and Maximum
Order, 1941

Prices)

Provides for control of the manufacture, sales
and prices of saccharin and dulcin.

2129

A P P E N D I X IV
DEVELOPMENT OF RATIONING

The following tables set forth the development of rationing
for each important food, the food rationing situation on 12 January
1942 and the allowances of food granted to catering establishments, priority canteens and schools. The tables included are as
follows:
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
VII.
VIII.
IX.
X.
XI.
XII.

Bacon and ham
Butter, margarine and cooking fats
Sugar
Meat
Tea
Cheese
Preserves
Points ration
Rationed foods (as on 12 January 1942)
Allowances of food to catering establishments
Allowances to schools
Food supplies for priority canteens

242

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

Table I. Bacon and Ham
S.R.

&o.
No.

Date i n
Force

Size of R a t i o n

C o n t e n t of R a t i o n

1940
13

8 Jan.

3V2 oz. free of bone H a m
4

69

17 J a n .

110

25 J a n .

(cooked)
oz. free of bone
(uncooked)

and canned bacon and
canned ham. Does not include
chops or chawls, fore-leg knuckles
hind leg knuckles or parts of
shoulders known as "picnics".

Cooked ham, cooked gammon,
and fore hock and gammon hock
freed of the ration.
7
8

oz. free of bone
(cooked)
oz. free of bone
(uncooked)

324

8 Mar.

Cooked shoulder meat excluded
from ration.

897

5 June

Bacon trimmings freed of ration.

903

10 June

1848

21 Oct.

1348

15 Sept.

3V2 oz. free of bone
(cooked)
4 oz. free of bone
(uncooked)
Fore hock and gammon hock
and cooked shoulder meat included in ration.

1941
4

oz. free of bone

Cooked boneless streaked bacon
and cooked boneless belly bacon
derationed.

Table II. Butter, Margarine and Cooking Fats
S.R.

&o.

Size of R a t i o n

Date in
Force

No.

Changes in
Definitions

Catering establishments:
per person per meal
Butter

Cooking
fats

Butter

Cooking
fats

1940
13
416
806

'8 Jan.
25 Mar.
3 June

272

Butter and
margarine
2 oz.
22 July
6 oz.

4 oz.
8 oz.
4 oz.

1/6 oz.
1/3 oz.
1/6 oz.

M oz.

1/6 oz.

Margarine includes
vegetarian butters
(S.R. & 0 . , No. 1416,
18 August 1940).

DEVELOPMENT OF RATIONING

243

Table II (continued)
S.R.

&o.

Changes in
Definitions

Size of R a t i o n

D a t e in
Force

Catering establishments:
per person per meal

No.
Butter Cooking
and mar- fats
garine

Butler

\i oz.
(1/6 oz. of
butter) 1

Cooking
fats

1591

2 Sept.

6 oz. 2 oz.
(4 oz. of
butter) 1

1/6 oz.

1735

30 Sept.

6 oz.
2 oz.
(2 oz. of
butter)

2146

23 Dec.

299

10 Mar.

2 oz.
6 oz.
(4 oz of
butter)

M oz.
1/6 oz.
(1/6 oz.
of butter)

928

30 June

2 oz.
6 oz.
(2 oz. of
butter)

(1/12 oz
of butter)

1635

20 Oct.

1825

17 Nov.

41

12 J a n .

\i oz.
1/6 oz.
(1/12 oz of
butter)
Butter includes only
butter manufactured from cows' milk.
" M a r g a r i n e " does
not include peanut
butter.

1941

Moz.

1/6 oz.

Margarine may be
obtained instead of
cooking fats.
7 oz.
3 oz.
(2 oz. of
butter)

]4, oz. 1/6 oz.
(1/12 oz.
of butter)

Option to obtain
margarine instead of
cooking fats withdrawn.

1942
6 oz.
2 oz.
(2 oz. of
butter)

Table III. Sugar
S.R.

&o.

Size of R a t i o n

Date in
Force
Per
person

No.

C o n t e n t of R a t i o n

Catering establishments: per
person per meal

1940
13

8 Jan.

12 oz.

1/7 oz. plus 1/7 oz. for each Does not include invert
hot beverage served to a sugar, glucose, molasses,
customer excluding spir- syrup, treacle, or manuituous beverages.
factured products containing sugar.

1
The butter-margarine ration can be taken in any proportion, providing
t h a t the amount of butter taken does not exceed the specified amount.

244

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

Table III (continued)
S.R.

&o.

Date in
Force

No.

Size of R a t i o n
Per
person

C o n t e n t of R a t i o n

Catering establishments: per
person per meal
Candy sugar
from ration.

324

8 Mar.

757

27 May

8 oz.

2124

Week
ending
22 Dec.
only.

12 oz.

excluded

1/10 oz. plus 1/lOoz. for
each hot beverage served.

1941
~~~^~

928

30 June27 July
only.

lib.

1825

17 Nov.

12 oz.

1942
41

12 Jan.

8 oz.

Table IV. Meat
S.R.

&o.

Date i n
Force

No.

Value of R a t i o n
Retail Price
Adult

C o n t e n t of R a t i o n

Child

1940
325

11 Mar.

415

26 Mar.

Is. lOd.

lid.

Fresh, chilled, frozen or salted beef,
mutton, lamb, veal and pork. Includes
bones ordinarily sold. Does not include
edible offals or any kinds of manufactured
meat products containing 50 per cent.
or less of meat by weight.
Canned meat or canned meat products,
cooked meats, galantines, meat pastes,
brawn, jellied veal or sausages or any
kind of manufactured meat products,
including meat pies, meat pasties and
meat puddings not included in ration.

526

9 Apr.

Pork, cooked or uncooked, unrationed.

1645

11 Sept.

Canned corned beef included in ration.

1735

30 Sept.

2s.

2d.

Is. Id.

2123

16 Dec.

Is. lOd.

lid.

245

DEVELOPMENT OF RATIONING

Table IV {continued)
S.R.

&o.

Date in
Force

Value of R a t i o n
Retail Price
Adult

No.

C o n t e n t of R a t i o n

Child

1941
15

6 Jan.

Is.

6d.

9d.

36

11 Jan.

Is.

2d.

7d.

442

31 Mar.

Is.

Od.

6d.

786

9 June

964

7 July

Offals included in ration. Pork included
in ration.

Offals, except ox skirts, derationed.
Is.

2d.

7d.
1/7 of the ration met with canned corned
beef.

29 Dec.

Table V. Tea
D a t e i n Force

S.R.

Ration

&o.
No.

2 oz.

9 July 1940

1181

4 oz.

Week ending 22
December 1940

2124

Table VI. Cheese
S.R.

&o.

Ratio n

Date in
Force
Nonvegetarians

No.

Vegetarians
and certain
other
persons1

Per resident per
week in institutions
and residential
establishments
Nonvegetarians

1941
626

5 May

1 oz.

8 oz.

1 oz.

Vegetarians
and certain
groups of
workers
8 oz.
Soft cheese, curd
cheese, blue vein
cheese, processed
cheese and cheese
made from milk
other than cows'
milk excluded.

» See table I X , p. 249

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

246

Table VI (continued)
S.R.

&o.

Date
i n Force

Ration

No.
Nonvegetarians

696

19 M a y

928

30 June

1261

25 Aug.

1992

10 Dec.

Vegetarians
and certain
other
persons1

Per resident per
week in institutions
and residential
establishments
NonVegevegetarians
and certarians
tain
groups of
workers
Cheese produced
in Argentina excluded.

2 oz.

3 oz.

8 oz.

Catering establishments:
per person per meal
NonvegeVegetarian
tarian
1/10 oz.
14 oz.
Institutions per
resident per week
NonvegeVegetarian
tarian
3 oz.
8 oz.

12 oz.

Table VII. Preserves
S.R.

&o.
No.

D a t e in
Force

R a t i o n per M o n t h

Content

1941

353

17 Mar.

Non-statutory ration
of 8 oz. announced.

Consumers required to register for jam, marmalade,
syrup and treacle.

815

10 June

% pound

Jam, marmalade, syrup and
treacle.

1107
1638

28 July
20 Oct.

1 pound

1

See Table I X , p. 249

Mincemeat added to ration

DEVELOPMENT OF RATIONING

247

Table Vili. Poh
Points Ration
S.R.

&o.

Date in
Force

No.

1941

1808
and
1823

1 Dec.

Size of Ration

16 coupons

C o n t e n t of R a t i o n

16 points per lb. net:
Solid pack canned meats
(other than corned beef,
corned mutton and canned
pork), including: tongues;
briskets; Australian minced
meat loaf; Australian or
New Zealand canned rabbit;
Eire stewed steak;
U.S.A. luncheon meat; canned pork, canned pork sausage meat and pork sausage bulk; canned salmon,
crawfish (or crayfish), lobster, crab, tunny, sardines.
12 points per lb. net:
All other canned fish (mainly
herrings and pilchards).
8 points per lb. net:
All canned home-produced
meat products (other than
pastes and soups) and Eire
ready meals; ready meals;
meat rolls; galantines.
4 points per lb. net:
Canned beans in sauce or
gravy, home-produced and
imported.

2015

15 Dec.

16 coupons

1942
130

26 J a n .

16 coupons

Canned salmon increased to
24 points per lb.; canned
pork sausage and pork sausage meat reduced to 8
points per lb.
In addition to above foods
2 points per lb. net:
Whole rice (excluding ground
rice, flake rice and any
other rice products), sago,
tapioca.
2 points per lb. net:
Imported dried beans (excluding seed beans), lentils
and split lentils, split peas,
any dry mixture comprised,
in whole or in part, of dried
peas, dried beans, lentils,
split lentils a n d split peas.
4 points per lb. net:
Imported dried peas (excluding seed peas), threshed
home-grown peas
(handpicked, b u t excluding seed
peas).

248

ÍOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

Table VIII {continued)
S.R.

&o.

D a t e in
Force

Size of R a t i o n

C o n t e n t of R a t i o n

No.

1942

8 Feb.
23 Feb.

8 points per lb. net:
All dried fruits, including
evaporated fruits and dates.
20 coupons

In addition to above, pointed
according to size of can, approximately 16 points per
lb. net:
Canned fruit.
9 points per lb..
Canned tomatoes.
4 points per lb..
Peas.

9 March

Alterations in points value:
INCREASED:
From 16 to 24 points per lb.:
Tongue, brisket, Australian
minced meat loaf, and Eire
stewed steak, sardines.
From 8 to 12 points per lb.:
U.S.A. pork sausage meat
or pork sausage bulk.
From 12 to 20 points per can:
U.S.A. luncheon meat in 12
oz. sizes (when sold sliced
this meat remains a t 16
points per lb.).

9 March
From 24 to 32 points per lb.:
Canned salmon, grades 1
and 2 (red).
REDUCED:
From 4 to 2 points per lb.:
Canned beans in gravy.
From 2 to 1 point per lb.:
Dried beans.
From 8 to 6 points per lb..
Dried fruits.

249

DEVELOPMENT OF RATIONING

Table IX. Rationed Foods
(As on 12 January 1942)
R.B. 1
R.B. 9
R.B. 7
Food

R.B. 7A
R.G. 33A

Per week
iacon and ham

4 oz.

R.B. 2
R.B.9
R.B. 7
or 7A
R.G.
33A
(issued
to child)

R.B. 6
and
Weekly
Seaman's

Per week

Per week

4 oz.

6 oz.
Jutter/margarine 6 oz.
(not more than
2 oz. butter)

Cooking fat*

R.B. 8

R . B . 8A

R . B . 8X
R . B . 8R

R.B.9

8 oz.

Per
coupon

Per
coupon

Per
coupon

4 oz.

2 oz.

4 oz.

15Moz.
6 oz.
3 oz.
6 oz.
(any pro- (not more (not more: (not more
portions) than 2 oz. than 1 oz. than 2 oz.
butter)
butter)
butter)

2 oz.
2 oz.
2 oz.
(may not be taken
in any other form)

2 oz.
1 oz.
2 oz.
(may not be taken in any other
form)

'Vegetarians and Orthodox Jews only may take Vegetarian/
Kosher margarine in place of cooking fat.
Sugar

8 oz.

8 oz.

30 oz.

8 oz.

4 oz.

8 oz.

Meat

Is. 2d.

7d.

120 oz.

7d.

7d.

7d.

Tea

retail
price
2 oz.

retail
price
2 oz.

4 oz.

retail
price
2 oz.

retail
price
1 oz.

Cheesef

3 oz.

3 oz.

4 oz.

3 oz.

lj^oz.

Per
4-week
period

Per
4-week
period

Per week

Per week

Per week

Jam
8 oz.
Syrup
2,oz.

a t the
rate of
4 oz.

—

Preserves (jam,
marmalade,
syrup, treacle
or mincemeat)

1 lb.

1 lb.

retail
price
2 oz.
3 oz.
Per
4-week
period
lib.

(R.B. 1-general ration book; R.B. 2 = child's ration book; R.B. 6 - weekly
seaman's ration book; R.B. 7 and R.B. 7A = emergency cards; R.B. 8. = 14day leave or duty card for H.M. Forces; R.B. 8A - 3-day leave or duty card;
R.B. 8R - 4-week duty ration card for H.M. Forces; R.B. 8X = registration
card for H.M. Forces, with monthly coupons; R.B. 9 - ration bock supplement,
with monthly coupons.)
tSpecial ration of 12 oz. per week for vegetarians, agricultural workers, underground miners, county roadmen, forestry workers, land drainage and catchment board workers. Women's Land Army, some railwaymen, some agricultural
industry workers, canal navigation maintenance men, charcoal burners and
scale repairers.

250

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

Table X. Allowances of Food to Catering Establishments
Food

A m o u n t or Value

Bacon and ham 1

For Category A 50 per cent, and for Category C 100 per cent, of average weekly
quantity purchased in the 4 weeks ended
26 May 1940. New establishments or establishments showing increased demand may
be authorised to obtain Category A on
the basis of 4 oz. per 7 breakfasts ser e d .
For Category C 2/7 oz. per person per meal
served. For Category F 4 times the amount
of Category A authorised. If little or no
Category A authorised, such supplies as
Food Executive Officer may think reasonable
of Category F may be authorised.

Butter/margarine

M oz. (of which not more% than 1/12 oz.
butter) per person per meal served.

Cooking fats/margarine

1/6 oz. per person per meal served (in any
desired proportions).

Sugar

1/10 oz. per person per meal served, plus
1/10 oz. per hot beverage served.

Meat

Id. worth retail per main meal served. In
establishments of a residential type whose
residents habitually take only 1 meal daily
in the establishment, each resident will be
regarded as taking 7 additional main meals
per week.

Tea

-.

Based on previous consumption. New establishments allowed 1 lb. per 200 cups served
weekly.

Cheese

1/10 oz. per person per meal served (other
than service canteens).
For vegetarian
establishments, J4 oz. per person per meal.

Preserves

1/8 oz. per person per meal served.

Eggs

1 consumer registration for
average number of residents.

Processed Eggs

M lb. per 100 main meals served per 4-weekly
period.

Milk: Liquid

For establishments able to state numbers of
main meals and hot beverages served to nonresidents, 2 pints for each of the average
number of residents, 2 pints for every 50
main meals (100 total meals for vegetarian
establishments) and 2 pints for every 50 hot
beverages served weekly to non-residents.
For establishments unable to distinguish as
above, 2 pints for each of the number of
residents, or 2 pints for every 50 main meals
and hot beverages served weekly, whichever
is greater.

each of

the

1
Category A bacon consists of rationed bacon. Category C bacon consists
of hams or gammons cooked or for cooking to be supplied free of the ration.
Category F bacon consists of fat heavy bellies. Supplies of categories C and F
are not always available.

DEVELOPMENT OF RATIONING
Food

251

A m o u n t or Value

Milk: Evaporated

8.88 tins for each gallon of liquid milk authorised as above.

Onions

1 consumer registration for every 14 main
meals served or for each of the average
number of residents, whichever is greater.
For vegetarian establishments, one consumer
registration for every 20 total meals served.

Points Foods

Establishments serving main meals: 1 point
for every 3 main meals served : establishments
serving subsidiary meals but not main meals:
1 point for every 6 subsidiary meals (subsidiary meals = M of the total number of
meals); vegetarian establishments: 1 point
for every 6 meals.

Table XI. Allowances to Schools1
Food

Quantity

Meat

2d. (retail value) for each meal.

Cheese

1/10 oz. per person per meal.

Sugar

2/5 oz. per person per meal and 1/10 oz. for
each hot beverage.

Butter/margarine/cooking fats... . H oz. per person per meal (not more than
1/12 oz. butter and 1/6 oz. cooking fats).
Preserves

1/5 oz. per person per meal.

Milk for cooking

2 pints per 50 main meals with option to
obtain a maximum of a further 8 pints.

Canned meat, fish and beans

16 points per month per 50 meals.

Cocoa powder

2

Starch food powder'

5

Rice

20

Oatmeal

10

Suet

10

Beans

24

Peas

12 .
(or 6 lbs. peas and 6 lbs. lentils).

Dried fruits

1 lb. per 50 main meals.

Processed eggs

1 u n i t ' per 100 meals served.

1

lbs. per 1,000 main meals.

Source: BOARD OP EDUCATION: Circular 1571, 12 November 1941.
2
Cornflour, custard powder and blancmange powder.
• Units may be adjusted from time to time, b u t a t present 4 oz. - 1 unit.

252

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

Table XII. Food Supplies for Priority Canteens
Food

Category A

Category B

Meat (per main meal served)

2d. (retail value)

lMd. (retail value)

Sugar (per meal)

1/5 oz.

2/15 oz.

Sugar (per hot beverage)

1/5 oz.

Butter/margarine (per meal)

3/8 oz. (not more than 1 / 4 oz. (not more than
1/8 oz. in the form of 1/12 oz. in the form of
butter)
butter)

Cheese (per meal)

1/5 oz.

1/10 oz.

Preserves (per meal)

1/8 oz.

1/8 oz.

•

2/15 oz.

Other rationed foods are allowed on the normal catering scale. Establishments in either category which, having no cooking facilities, do not serve cooked
meals b u t serve previously prepared meals instead will not receive a meal allowance for sugar, b u t will receive 3/8 oz. of preserves per meal instead of the ordinary
allowance. Establishments of this type in category B will also receive 1/5 oz.
meal allowance of cheese instead of the normal allowance.
All priority establishments can, in addition, obtain small quantities of coffee
essence upon special application for use when normal coffee brewing apparatus
is not available; 3 3/4 lbs. of sugar will be allowed for each gallon of coffee essence.

APPENDIX V
1. RETAIL FOOD PRICE INDICES
(July 1914 = 100)
Meat, Bacon and Fish

1st of
each m o n t h

Beef,
British
Ribs

Beef,
chilled
or frozen

Bank Ribs

Thin
flank

Mutton,
British

Mutton,
frozen

Bacon

Legs Breast Legs Breast

1939:
January.. .
February..
March....
April
May
June
July
August.. ..
September.
October...
November.,
December.

143
143
143
142
142
143
143
143
144
148
150
151

115
115
114
114
115
115
115
115
115
120
123
125

133
132
131
131
131
130
130
131
132
138
142
143

103
102
102

114
116
115
115
116
117
115
114
114
120
124
126

151

101
101
107
112
115

145
146
147
148
149
149
148
148
148
153
155
156

156
159
159
159
159
159
159
158
158
158
158
159

131
143
144
145
145
144
144
143
144
145
145
144

145
174
175
176
177
176
176
176
177
177
177
177

118
124
124
125
124
124
123
123
124
124
124
123

160
166
167
167
167
167
167
165
166
166
165
165

130
124
123
123
123
123
123
122
123
123
122
122

163
173
173
174
174
174
174
174
174
174
174
174

115
98
97
97
97
97
97
97
97
97
97
97

177
180
165
165
166
166
166
164
165
166
166
167

159
159
159
159
159
159
159
159
159
159
159
159

144
144
144
145
145
145
146
146
146
146
146
146

177
177
177
177
177
177
177
177
177
177
177
177

123
124
123
123
124
124
124
123
124
124
124
124

166
166
166
166
167
167
166
167
167
167
167
167

123
122
123
123
123
123
124
124
124
124
123
123

174
174
174
174
174
174
174
174
174
174
174
174

97
97
97
97
97
97
97
97
97
97
97
97

167
166
166
183
183
184
183
183
183
183
184
183

101

150
150
150
150
149
148
150
151
156
160
161

101
99
97
96
96
97
104
110
112

135
136
136
136
133
131
131
133
135
147
165
172

1940:
January.. .
February..
March....
April
May
June
July
August.. ..
September.
October...
November.
December.

1941:
January.. .
February..
March....
April
May
June
July
August.. ..
September.
October...
November.
December.

254

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

Milk, Cheese and Eggs
1st of
each
month

1941
1940
Eggs,
Eggs,
Eggs,
Milk Cheese Fresh Milk Cheese Fresh Milk Cheese Fresh

January.. 198
February 195
March .. . 195
April .... 194
M a y .... 185
June .... 180
July .... 188
August . . 191
September 192
October. . 194
November 198
December 199

1939

125
125
124
122
121
115
114
115
116
121
126
136

199
198
197
196
195
181
219
220
221
225
227
227

175
159
118
106
109
108
133
136
158
188
210
228

144
155
162
163
161
150
148
149
149
149
150
150

204
211
222
148
177
173
182
210
232
267
312
314

255
253
252
252
244
240
247
249
251
253
255
256

293
271
231
227
227
227
200
200
200
200
200
200

150
150
150
150
150
150
150
150
150
150
151
150

Butter and Margarine
1940

1939
1st of
each m o n t h

MarMarMarButter
Butter
gargargarine
Salt
Fresh Salt i n e F r e s h Salt ine

Butter
Fresh

January. . . .
February. . .
March
April
May
June
July
August
September. .
October. . . .
November. .
December.. .

1941

114
116
117
115
113
109
110
112
113
127
129
129

107
111
111
110
107
102
105
107
107
127
131
132

91
91
91
92
92
92
92
92
92
93
85
94

130
130
130
129
129
128
128
128
128
129
129
129

132
132
132
132
132
132
131
132
132
132
133
133

94
94
102
103
103
103
103
103
103
103
103
103

130
130
130
130
130
130
130
130
130
130
130
130

133
133
133
133
133
133
133
134
134
134
134
134

103
103
103
103
103
103
103
103
103
103
103
103

Tea and Sugar (Granulated)
1st of
each m o n t h
January.. .
February..
M a r c h . .. .
April
May
June
July
August. . .
September
October.. .
November.
December.
1

1939
Tea
153
153
153
153
154
154
153
153
152
153
158
160

1940

Sugar
122
124
124
124
137
144
146
146
146
215
217
218

Tea

1941

Sugar

161
161
162
162
163
163
163
163
163
163
163
163

Rise in sugar since 1 September 1939 due to increased duty.

218
218
218
218
218
218
215
215
240
241
241
241

Tea
163
163
163
163
163
163
163
163
163
163
163
163

Sugar 1
193
193
193
193
193
193
193
193
193
193
193
193

255

RETAIL FOOD PRICES INDICES

Flour and Bread
1939
1st of
each m o n t h
January.. .
February..
M a r c h . .. .
April
May
June
July
August. . .
September.
October...
November.
December.

Flour

1940

Bread

131
131
131
130
130
130
130
127
126
130
130
130

147
147
146
146
146
146
146
143
142
145
146
146

Flour

1941

Bread

130
129
128
128
128
127
126
126
126
125
125
125

146
147
146
147
147 '
147
147
147
146
146
146
146

Flour

Bread

125
125
125
125
125
125
125
125
125
125
144
145

146
146
146
146
146
146
146
146
146
146
138
138

Potatoes
1st of
each month

April
July

1939

1940

1941

118
120
121
128
135
135
200
151
133
135
138
137

138
146
150
163
167
167
296
188
161
163
171
173

176
181
185
188
190
194
199
195
182
175
168
169

Source: Ministry of Labour Gazette.

2. RETAIL PRICES OF FOOD .
(Average price per lb. unless otherwise
Beef, chilled Mutton, British Mutton, frozen
and frozen

Beef, British
1st of
each
month
1939:
January.
FebruaryMarch .
April..
May. ..
June. .
July..
August
September
October.
November
December
1940:
January...
February..
March
April
May
June
July
August.. . .
September
October. ..
November.
December.
1941:
January.
February
March.
April..,
May. ..
June. .
July..
August,
September
October. .
November
December

Ribs

s.
2M
2Vi
2M
2M
2JÍ
2M
2M

m

2M
2H
3
3

Ribs

d. s.

m
iy
m
iy
m
m
2
2

iy
8

«M

m

m

d.

9y2
9H
9y2
9H
9y2
9y2
9y2
9y
10
10JÍ

5
5
5
4M
4M
4M
4M
4M
4M
5M

10^

10 Ji
OM
OH

9y2

m
m

9%
9H
9y2
9y2
914
9y2
9y2
9y2
9y2

m

9lA
9y2
9y2
9y2
9y2
9y2
9Ì4
9U
9%
9%
9%
9%

OH
OH
OH
OH
OH
OH

3M

m
3M
3M
3M
3M

m

3M
3M
3M
3M
3JÍ
3M
3%
3~

Thin
flank

d.

3M

3%
1

Thin
flank

oM
oM

OH
OH
OH
OH
OH
OH

oH

OH
OH
OH
OH
OH

sy2

¡y

5M
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6

Legs

Breast

Legs
s.

3M
3JÍ
3M
3M
3M
3JÜ
3JÍ
3JÍ
3J^
4
4
4M
4M
5M
5M

sy2

5M
5M
5M
5M
5M
5M
5M
5M
5M
5M
5M

10M
10M
10M
10M
10JÍ
10M
iy2
10M
1V2
10M
iy
10M
7M
8
10M
11
11
UM
1 0
1 0
1 0
1 0
1 0
1 0
1 0
1 0
1 0
1 0
1 0

m

m
m

1 0
1 0

s}-;

5M
5M
5M
5M
5M
5M
5M

1
1
1
1
1

Breast
s.

d.

iy2
iy2
iy2
iy2
iy2

0
0
0
0
0

Bacon1

d.

4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4M
4^

3
3M
3M
3M
3
2M
2M
3
3

4M
4
4

7M
8M

4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4

*y2

6y2

m

(>y2
ey2
6y2
6M
6>i

(>y2
(>y2

ty2
¿y
ey2
f>y2

m
sy2
m
sy2
sy2
m
sy2
m

The description of bacon specified for quotation is streaky, but where this kind was seldom being sold the returns relate to
another kind locally representative.
s
Mostly Canadian or New Zealand cheese, but in some districts the returns relate to another kind locally representative.
* Beginning August 1940, two brands of margarine, special and standard, were on sale at 9d. and 5d. each per lb. The
figures for 1 September 1941 are averages calculated from the prices of various brands on sale at those dates. The figures of 1
July 1940 relate to prices of corresponding qualities.

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APPENDIX VI
COMMODITIES CONTROLLED BY MAXIMUM PRICE
ORDERS
(As on 12 January 1942)
Source: Ministry of Food Bulletin, No. 120, 9 January 1942.
Commodity
*Apples: Home-grown
Imported

S t a g e s of P r i c e C o n t r o l
Growers', wholesale, retail.
First-hand, wholesale, retail.

Bacon
Wholesale, retail.
"Bananas
First-hand, wholesale, retail.
Barley
Growers', approved buyers', other dealers'.
Beans, home-grown
Growers', approved buyers', other dealers'.
Bread
Any sale.
*Butter
First-hand, wholesale, retail.
•Canned fish, imported
First-hand, to retailers, retail.
Canned fruits
First-hand, wholesale, retail.
Canned meats and canned soups,
home-produced
Wholesale, retail.
Canned meats, imported
Importers', wholesale, retail.
"Canned sardines
First-hand, wholesale, retail.
Canned vegetables
First-hand, wholesale, retail.
Cereal breakfast foods
Any sale.
Cheese : *Main varieties
Wholesale, retail.
Processed
To wholesalers, to retailers, retail.
Soft or curd
Retail.
Chocolate and chocolate confectionery
Retail.
Cocoa, raw West African
Ex quay or ex store.
Cocoa butter
Ex factory or warehouse.
»Coffee
Retail.
Condensed milk: Canned
First-hand, wholesale, retail.
Bulk
Any sale.
Cream
Any sale.
Dredge corn, home-grown
Growers', approved buyers', other dealers'.
"Dried fruits
Wholesale, retail.
"Dried peas, beans and l e n t i l s . . . . Importers', millers', wholesale, retail.
Dripping
Wholesale, retail.
"Eggs (including duck eggs)
Producers', licensed buyers', and packers'
wholesale, retail.
Eggs, frozen
Wholesale, retail.
Egg products
Any sale.
Feeding stuffs
To consumers, to retailers, to dealers or manufacturers, to wholesale dealers.
"Fish (except certain specified
varieties)
First-hand, merchants', to retailers and friers,
retail.
•Commodities in respect of which a retailer is required to exhibit a list of maximum prices
or a notice stating the price.

COMMODITIES CONTROLLED BY MAXIMUM PRICE ORDERS
Commodity

259

Stages of Price Control

Flour
Fruit pulp

To first buyers, retail.
To licensed preservers.

Glucose, liquid

Manufacturers', distributing dealers'.

Hares
Hay

First-hand, wholesale, retail.
Growers', or importers', approved buyers',
other dealers.
Honey: Imported
To importers, first-hand, wholesale, retail.
Home-produced
Retail.
•Horseflesh (human consumption) .Wholesale, retail.
Invert sugar
Wholesale.
Jam, home-produced
ported
•Lard
"Leeks, home-grown
•Lemons

and

imFirst-hand, wholesale, retail.
First-hand, wholesale, retail.
Growers', wholesale, retail.
First-hand, wholesale, retail.

Macaroni and similar products. . To retailers, retail.
Marmalade, home-produced and
imported
First-hand, wholesale, retail.
M e a t : *Beef, lamb, mutton, veal,
pork
Wholesale, retail.
•Edible offals
Retail.
*Goat meat
Wholesale, retail.
•Venison
Retail.
•Sausages
Wholesale, retail.
Canned corned beef
Retail.
M e a t feeding stuffs
First-hand, wholesale, retail.
Milk
Retail.
Milk powder
Wholesale, retail.
•Mincemeat and fruit curd
First-hand, wholesale, retail.
Nuts
Wholesale, retail.
N u t kernels
Retail.
Oats
Growers', approved buyers', other dealers'.
Oat products
Importers', millers', wholesale, retail.
•Onions (including shallots)
Growers', wholesale, retail.
Onions, green
Growers', wholesale, retail.
•Oranges: sweet
First-hand, wholesale, retail.
bitter
Wholesale, retail.
Peas, threshed home-grown
Growers', approved buyers', pickers', wholesale, retail.
Pepper
To processors or wholesalers, to retailers,
retail.
Pickles and sauces
First-hand, wholesale, retail.
Pigeon mixture, national
Retail.
Plums, home-grown
Growers', wholesale, retail.
Potatoes, 1941 crop
Fixed growers', minimum and maximum
wholesale, maximum retail.
•Poultry (including turkeys)
First-hand, wholesale, retail.
•Rabbits, wild and tame
First-hand, wholesale, retail.
•Rice
Importers' or millers', primary and secondary
wholesalers', retail.
Rye, home-grown
Growers', other dealers'.
Saccharin and dulcin
Wholesale, retail.
•Soft fruits
Growers', wholesale, retail.
Soya
flour
Importers' or millers'.
•Commodities in respect of which a retailer is required to exhibit a list of maximum prices
or a notice statine the price.

260

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN
Commodity
1

"Specified" foods
Straw
Sugar
"Sugar confectionery
Syrup and treacle
""Tapioca and sago
Tea
Technical tallows and greases
(home melt)
•Tomatoes: Imported
Home-grown
Wheat, home-grown

S t a g e s of Price Control
Any sale.
Growers', approved buyers', other dealers'.
Wholesale, retail.
Retail.
Retail.
Importers' or millers', primary and secondary
wholesalers', retail.
Any sale.
Ex factory.
First-hand, wholesale, retail.
Growers', wholesale, retail.
Growers', other dealers'.

•Commodities in respect of which a retailer is required to exhibit a list of maximum prices
or a1 notice stating the price.
The prices of the following foods, specified in the Schedule to the Food (Current Prices) Order,
1941, are controlled at the levels ruling on 2 December 1940: coffee essence (including coffee and
chicory essence); bottled vegetables; meat and other edible extracts; biscuits, rusks and crisp
breads; soups, powdered; table jellies; canned vegetables, canned fish, marmalade, and pickles
and sauces whose prices are not controlled by specific Control Orders.

A P P E N D I X VII
CONCLUSIONS OF THE REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE
APPOINTED BY THE MINISTER OF FOOD TO EXAMINE
THE COST OF MILK DISTRIBUTION (PERRY REPORT)
We summarise our recommendations as follows:
(1) Subject to (7) below, the allowance to milk distributors for
expenses and profit should be 8d. per gallon.
(2) This margin should apply uniformly throughout Great
Britain at all seasons of the year. Effect should be given
to this by an Order or Orders prescribing a maximum retail
price, and a distributor's buying price, similarly independent of season and locality.
(3) No other prescription of prices, whether retail, semi-retail
or wholesale, is desirable or necessary.
(4) Distributors should consider the following methods of
reducing costs:
(i)
a deposit of 3d. on the milk bottles;
(ii)
utilisation of processing and bottling facilities to
the maximum advantage;
(iii)
abolition of the half-pint bottle, and possibly of
the quart bottle;
(iv)
prepayment instead of credit;
(v)
exclusion from milk round of the sale of other
goods;
(vi)
organisation of efficient feeder systems for pram
rounds;
(vii) further reductions in expenditure for competitive
purposes, particularly in regard to the shops maintained by large urban distributors, which are not
necessary for the distribution of milk;
(viii) the restriction of milk deliveries in any district to
two organisations, viz., the local co-operative
society and a combination of private traders.
(5) The Ministry of Food should consider the proposals made
by distributors in regard to the hours and frequency of
milk deliveries.
(6) The administration of milk distribution in the national interest should be made the active concern of some organisation equipped with all necessary powers and facilities.
(7) To give distributors time to plan their expenditure on a
lower level, the introduction of the margin of 8d. per gallon
should be deferred until 1 April 1941. For October,
November and December 1940, the margins should be those
prescribed by the Boards for these months in 1939. For
January, February and March 1941, there should be a
margin in England and Wales of 8d. per gallon in small
towns and rural districts, and of lOd. per gallon elsewhere,
and a margin in all parts of Scotland of 9d. per gallon.
1

H.M.S.O., 1940, pp. 21-22.

INDEX
Acreage, certam foods and vegetables
(England and Wales), 20.
Acreage under cultivation in Great
Britain (table), 19.
Acts of Parliament:
Agricultural (Miscellaneous War
Provisions), 49.
Agriculture (Miscellaneous Provisions) 1941, 37n.
Essential Commodities Reserves
(1938), 13, 22.
Goods and Services (Price Control) 1941, 167.
Marketing (Potatoes), 94.
Price of Goods (1939), 167.
Wheat (1932), 19, 49, 75.
Acquisition of Food (Excessive
Quantities), 16.
Agricultural Act (Miscellaneous War
Provisions), see Acts of Parliament.
Agricultural Economic Research Institute, 22.
Agricultural Executive Committee, 26,
29, 32,35, 41, 52, 5 In.
Agricultural Improvement Councils
(England, Scotland, Wales), 31.
Agricultural Machinery Development
Board, 34.
Agricultural Register, 22n.
Agricultural
Requisites
Assistance
Scheme, 28.
Agricultural Research Council, 29.
Agricultural Statistics, 21 n.
Agricultural Wages Board, 35.
Agriculture, see also Farming and
Fertiliser:
building of hostels and, 35.
changing character of, 17-23.
concentration of production in, 51.
conscientious objectors and, 35.
control, 60.
credit, 37-38.
derelict land cultivation, 26.
domestic production, 25-26.
dual purpose crops, 41.
efficiency and state control in, 186.
equipment for, 34.
Essential Work Order for, 35.
excess profits tax in, 43.
increase of tractors in, 34.
increased output in, 21.
labour pools in, 35.
labour shortage in, 34.
loans, liberalised for, 37.

mechanisation in, 34.
minimum wage in, 34-35.
(Miscellaneous Provisions) Act,
1941, 27n, 37n.
persons engaged in, Great Britain
(table), 18.
planning in, 38-41.
policy, 15, 17, 24, 35, 41, 55, 114.
post-war reconstruction and, 184.
price policy, 42-49, 176, 184.
production planning in, 32.
production and selective plough
policy, 25.
programme for, 50.
raw materials in, 40.
research in, 186.
rotation system in, 20, 42.
school children and, 35.
skilled workers in, 36.
soil analysis, 30.
state subsidies for, 21, 49.
wages in, 17, 185.
war prisoners, 35.
wartime policy, 24, 185.
wireworm infestation, 29.
Women's Land Army, 35.
Aid in combating agricultural pests,
30.
Air raids, emergency feeding and, 133,
143.
Allocation of supplies, 70-72.
Allotment holders (numbers of) in
England and Wales, 26.
Animal fat, control, 90.
Animal glands for pharmaceutical
purposes, 81.
Apples, home-grown, 95, 159.
Area Bacon Distribution Officer, 80,
103n.
Area Commodity Officers, 13.
Arterial Watercourses and land productivity, 27.
Association:
Bacon Importers' National Defence, 80.
Canned Meat Importers, 81.
Flour Millers, 160.
Margarine Manufacturers', 90.
Meat Importers' National Defence, 78.
Multiple Grocers', 167n.
National Egg Distributing, 93.
National Federation of Corn
Trade, 76.

INDEX

National Federation of Grocers',
167n.
National Federation of Wholesale
Grocers', 167n.
National Veterinary Medical, 30.
Newport Grocers', 16In.
Retail Distributors', 167n.
War Time, 101, 157.
Wholesale Distributors', 167n.
Wholesale Meat Supply, 79.
Wholesale Meat Transport, 79.
Astor, Viscount, 2n, 17n, 51, 181.
Bacon:
control, 74, 80-81.
Importers' National Defence Association, 80.
Imports, 80.
Marketing Scheme suspended, 80.
price control, 48, 148, 150, 154,
156, 160, 162.
rationing, 112, 114, 135.
Reorganisation Commission, 80.
otherwise mentioned, 3, 4, 111.
Bacon Board, 60.
Bacon and Ham, Orders (by date), 242.
Bakers' Association, 69.
Balancer meal, feed stuff rationing
and, 54.
Bananas, 159.
Barley, 41, 46, 77.
Beans, 77; canned, 97; price control,
155.
Beef, Collecting Centres, 46.
Beef, prices of, 45-46, 148n; subsidy,
49.
Beer, 100.
Beveridge, Sir William, 61, 71, 85, 110,
180.
Biscuits, 77, 111.
Black Currants, 41, 97.
Black Currant Juice, 128, 178.
Black Market:
catering establishments and, 112.
defence regulations and, 164.
food control and, 177.
reasons for, 91.
Blood, dried, for animal feed, 81.
Board :
Agricultural Machinery Development, 34.
Agricultural Wages, 35.
Bacon, 60.
London Passenger Transport, 143.
Milk Marketing, 47, 58, 60, 82,
164.
Vegetable Marketing, 60.
Board of Education:
agriculture and, 35.
canteen training and, 130.
milk and, 122.
school canteens and, 137.
Board of Trade, food situation and, 13;
price regulations and, 167.

263

Bracken, 27, 49, 185.
Bread :
marketing regulated, 77.
National Wheat Meal Loaf introduced, 110, 164, 182.
price control, 149, 157, 163.
subsidy, 148, 163, 177.
otherwise mentioned, 109, 183.
Breeding cows subsidised, 49.
British Agricultural Programme, 49.
British Broadcasting Corporation and
consumer's education, 12.
British Restaurant, see also Communal
Feeding:
establishment of, 131—133.
factories and, 139.
rationing and, 142.
British Sugar Corporation, 99.
Broccoli, 4.
Burns, A. R., 187.
Butchers' Association, 69.
Butchers' Retail Buying Committee,
79.
Butter:
control, 74, 156.
home producers and rationing,
113.
imports, 3, 4.
price control, 146, 150, 153, 161.
rationing of, 111-114, 135.
requisitioned, 90.
otherwise mentioned, 109, 148n.
Butter, Margarine, and Cooking Fats,
Orders (by date), 242.
Cabbage, 41.
Cabinet Committees, 47.
Calcium salts, 110.
Cane sugar, 99.
Canned food, points rationing. 111,
117.
Canned Meat Importers' Association,
81.
Canteens:
communal feeding and, 129, 179.
factory, 139.
industrial, development of, 139140.
mobile, see Food Distribution.
rationing and, 120, 133.
school, 137-138.
training of cooks for, 130.
Carrots:
price control, 47.
prices decontrolled, 155.
supply, control of, 95.
otherwise mentioned, 4, 41, 57,
109, 130, 154, 159, 183.
Cash-and-Carry Kitchens, 134.
Catering Establishments:
categories of, 141.
control of, 72, 136, 172.
criticism of, 130.
meal restrictions in, 135.

264

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

rationing and, 112, 135.
survey of, 139.
uncontrolled foods and, 170.
Cauliflower, 4.
Central Milk Distributive Committee,
83n.
Cereals:
control, 75.
Division of Ministry of Food, 76.
home-produced, 74.
rationing of, 111.
requisitioned, 76.
otherwise mentioned, 41, 57, 100.
Cereals and Cereal Products, Orders
(by date), 201-207.
Chancellor of the Exchequer:
food policy and, 148.
food subsidies, 148.
statement on food imports, 6.
Cheese :
control of, 74, 87, 171.
imports, 3, 5.
Orders (by dates), 222-223.
price control, 150, 153, 161.
rationing of, 116, 119, 111, 113,
120, 136, 141.
shortage of, 109, 151.
subsidy, 148n.
Child's ration book, 113.
Children, communal feeding of, 134.
Children's Nutrition Council, 83n, 121,
134, 182n.
Chocolate, 100.
black market, 169.
control, 100.
price control, 157.
Cigarettes, 146.
Citrine, Sir Walter, 14n, 120n.
Civic Cafes, see Communal feeding.
Civil Defence Workers, 131.
Cocoa, 5, 100, 138.
Cod, Icelandic, wet salted, 99, 150.
Cod-liver oil, 127, 128, 177, 178.
Coffee, 100; maximum prices, 163.
Coffee bars, 127.
Collecting Centres, 46.
Coller, Frank, H. In.
Committee :
Agricultural Executive, 52.
Butcher's Retail Buying, 79.
Cabinet, 47.
Central Milk Distributive, 83n.
Central Price Regulation, 167.
Community Advisory, 68.
County Agricultural, 28.
County War, 184.
County War Agricultural Executive, 15.
Food Policy, 41.
Food Price Investigation, 65, 167,
170.
Garden Produce (Scotland), 95.
Horticultural Advisory, 26.
Market Supply, 3.
Parliamentary, of the Co-opera-

tive Congress, 83n, 167n.
Port Area Grain, 76.
Scientific Food, 14, 41.
Scottish Gardens and Allotments,
54.
Select, on National Expenditure,
29n, 31, 33, 38, 45n, 48n, 52n,
62, 80, 84, 158, 184.
Tea Control, 68.
Trades Union Congress Advisory,
14, 157.
Committee of Investigation for England, Report by, 83n.
Communal Feeding, 112, 128-131.
British Restaurants and, 104, 131,
139, 142.
campaign, 16.
Civic Cafes and, 13 In.
civil defence workers, 131.
Director of, 131.
organisation of, 132.
programme and nutrition, 181.
rural areas and, 134.
scope of, 131.
Communal Feeding Centres, 179.
local differences in, 142.
rationing and, 120, 130.
Communal Preserving Centres, 96.
Community Feeding in Wartime, 144.
Community Kitchens, 133.
Concentration of Production, 51.
Concentration Scheme, 90.
Conscientious objectors, 35.
Consumer :
education of, 11, 178.
educational campaigns, 38.
food control and, 12, 172.
Kitchen Front and, 11.
Officers of the Public Relations
Division and, 12.
registration, 113, 175.
Consumer's Council, of 1918, 14.
Consumer's demand, 44; food control
and, 61.
Control, see also Food Control, Price
Control:
allocation of supplies and, 70-72.
application of, 74.
catering establishments, 72.
channels of distribution and, 10,
60, 74.
organisation of, 61-70.
principles of, 64.
Trade Directors, 63.
transport and storage, 73.
Cooking depots, 133.
Cooking fats:
control, 74.
defined for rationing, 115.
rationing of, 111, 114.
Co-operative Wholesale Society, 160.
Co-operatives, rationing and. 111.
Corn, see Maize.
Corned Beef, canned, 116.
Cost-of-Living Index, 145-147, 148.

INDEX

Council:
Agricultural Improvement, 31.
Agricultural Research, 29.
Children's Nutrition, 83n, 121,
134, 182n.
Consumer's, 14.
County, 138.
Domestic Poultry Keepers, 54.
Food, Report of, 83n.
General, of the Trades Union
Congress, 120.
London County, 104, 131.
County Councils, 138.
County Federation of Women's Institutes, 95.
County War Agricultural Executive
Committees, 15.
Coupons, 112.
Cultivation of Derelict Laud, 26.
Cutforth Commission, milk distribution, 83n.
Dairy Farming and Industry, 18.
Dairy products, 5.
D a t u m Period, see Distribution and
Rationing.
Defence (General) Regulations:
agriculture control and, 15.
price control and, 157.
price control enforcement and,
164.
Derelict land, 26.
Dextrine, controlled, 100.
Diet:
Charts, 12.
survey, 1.
vitamins and, 182.
war and, 115.
Dig for Victory, 31.
Director of Communal Feeding, 131.
Distribution, see also Food and names
of products:
control, 60.
datum period system and, 70.
emergency conditions and, 101-105.
meat, reorganised, 59.
milk, criticised, 84.
milk, priorities in (table), 126.
Scheme of supply in, 86.
Select Committee on National Expenditure and, 84.
wartime, 65.
Divisional Food Officers, 13, 102.
Docks (Provision of Canteens) Order
1941, 139n.
Domestic Poultry Keepers Council, 54
Drainage schemes, 27; subsidy, 49.
Dual Purpose Crops, see Agriculture.
Economist, The; cost-of-living index,
146; meat policy, 150.
Edible fat, 90.
Edible Oil Association, 89n.

265

Eggs:
control, 74, 58, 91-93, 146.
first food queues, 92.
imports, 4, 91, 149.
Orders (by date), 223-225.
price control, 92, 150, 152.
priority food, 128.
rationing of. 111, 120.
shortage of, 101, 109.
subsidy, 93, 148n, 177.
otherwise mentioned, 60, 136, 175.
Eggs and Poultry Reorganisation Committee, 48n.
Emergency conditions:
communal feeding and, 130.
mobile canteens, 131.
mobile reserve, 102.
Shadow Larder, 102.
Emergency feeding, 5.
air raids and, 133.
programme, 143.
Emergency food distribution, 101-105.
Emergency Meal Centres, 104.
Enforcement Inspectors, see Price
Control.
Essential Work Order, 35.
Evacuation Areas, food control and,
134.
Excess profits tax, farmers and, 44.
Extension of land, agricultural policy
and, 24.
Factories (Canteen) Order, 139n.
Farm control, Agricultural Executive
Committees and, 186.
Farm Credit Liaison Officers, 38.
F a r m Management Survey, 47, 48n.
F a r m surveys, 25, 32, 39; objects of,
184.
Farmer's Weekly, 30, 34n, 35n, 41n,
55n, 86n.
Farmers, excess profits tax and, 44.
Farming, see also Agriculture:
efficiency, 26, 32.
labour supply and, 34.
mechanical equipment in, 34.
post-war policy, 33.
prices, 42.
propaganda campaigns and, 56.
Requisites Scheme and, 38n.
self-sufficiency, feedstuff s in, 55.
Feedstuffs:
balancer meal and rationing, 54.
dual purpose crops, 24.
kitchen waste, 55.
National Pool of, 55.
rationing of, 49, 52-55.
shortage of imports, 50.
straw pulp process, 55.
winter ration scheme, 53.
otherwise mentioned, 2, 22, 81,149.
Fertiliser:
agricultural production and, 24.
consumption, 27.

266

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

Essential Commodities Reserves
Act and, 22.
imports, 22.
phosphorus, potash as, 23.
production of, (table), 22.
subsidies, 28, 49.
Fish:
canned, rationed, 71, 99.
control, 75, 98.
Orders (by dates), 232-235.
price control, 99, 150, 161.
Scheme, 162.
wholesale control of, 98.
otherwise mentioned, 5, 136, 148n.
Flour:
fortified, 110.
National Straight Run, 77.
National Wheatmeal, 77, 110, 182.
prices, 149, 160.
subsidised, 149, 163.
Flour Millers Association, 160.
Fodder crops, 20.
Food:
administration of, 13-15.
Advice Centres, 12.
allocation and population movement, 71.
Consumption in the United Kingdom (table), 191.
convoys for emergency feeding,
143.
(Current Prices) Order, 1941, 197.
(Defence Plans) Department, 13,
61; Report of, 97.
Education Memos, 12.
Facts, 12.
Grid System and emergency feeding, 104.
manufacture, 59n.
Manufacturers' Federation, 167n.
Movement Control Section, transport, 74.
organisers, voluntary, rural areas,
102.
preparation, 12.
Price Investigation Committee,
165, 167.
priorities for canteens, 127, 141.
regulation and licensing, 177.
(Restriction on Dealings) Order,
72.
subsidy, policy of, 148.
substitutes, 101.
Food Control:
Defence Regulations and, 164.
dependence on imports and, 2-6.
development of, 16.
economics of, 12, 179.
Food Executive Officers and, 14,
172.
home-produced food and, 58.
imported foods and, 58.
Orders, general, 195-201.
policy, 174.
problems of, 171.

public discontent and, 173.
Requisitioning Orders and, 66-67.
restriction on traders in, 66.
Scientific Food Committee and,
14, 41.
social policy in, 180.
supplies of basic foods and, 58.
Trades Union Congress Committee and, 14.
Food Control Committee:
catering establishments and, 135.
cheese distribution and, 87.
composition of, 68.
derationing and, 112.
local, 13.
organisation of, 14.
rationing and, 72, 113.
supervision of distribution, 88.
Food Council, Report by, 83n.
Food Distribution:
bottle necks and, 60.
consumers' demand and, 65.
control of, 10.
decentralisation in, 102.
disrupted, 66.
Divisional Food Officers and, 74,
102.
mobile canteens, 103.
mobile reserve, 102.
Mutual Assistance Pacts in, 103.
peace-time, 61.
Queen's Messenger Food Convoys
and, 103.
Trade controllers, 62.
Food Policy, 43.
advertising and, 178.
communal feeding, 128.
Food Policy Committee, 41.
Foodstuffs for H u m a n Consumption,
1934-35 (table), 3.
Foodstuffs for Human Consumption in
the United Kingdom, 192-193.
Free and Cheap Milk Scheme, see
Milk.
French, Sir Henry L., 98n, 158n,
163n.
Fruit:
control, 58, 74, 93.
imports reduced, 97.
price control, 48, 160.
prices, 146, 149, 154.
Fruit: canned, rationed, 118.
Fruit: dried, control, 95; price control,
161, rationed, 71, 97, 111, 118, 176.
Fruit: fresh, canning of, 96; control,
159, shortage of, 4, 183.
Fruit juice, 127.
Fruit and Preserves Orders (by date),
229-232.
Fruit and Vegetable Area Intelligence
Officers, distribution, 95.
Game, 116, 136.
Garden Fruit Committees, 96.

ÍNDEX

Garden Produce Committees, 95.
Gas attacks, emergency feeding and,
103.
General Council of the Trades Union
Congress, 120.
General Government Plan, food control, 13.
Glass-house growing, 4, 56.
Glucose, control, 100; see also Sugar.
Goat meat, control, 155; Maximum
prices, 79; prices of, 161.
Grigg Commission, food distribution
and prices, 83n.
Grocers' Associations, 69.
Grow-more series, agricultural planning and, 31.
Haddock, smoked fresh, 99.
Hall, Sir Daniel, 19, 21, 48n.
Ham, control, 74, 81; rationing of, 135.
Hares, 161; see also Rabbit.
Heads of Commodity Divisions, food
control and, 63.
Herring, 98, 150.
Hill sheep producers, subsidised, 49.
Home-produced food, control, 58.
Honey, 161.
Horseflesh, control, 79; price control,
155, 161.
Horticultural Advisory Committees,
26.
Hostels, agricultural labour and, 35.
Hudson, R. S., 29n, 52.
Imports:
dependence on, 2-6.
food, established, 60, 75.
Lend-Lease Act and, 5.
Value of Certain (table), 3.
Index of Retail Food Prices (table),
147.
Institutions, rationing and, 112.
Invert sugar, control, 100; see also

Sugar.
Jam:
communal preserving centres and,
96.
control, 74.
factories, 48.
fresh fruit standard and, 96.
price control, 157, 160.
quality standards prescribed for,
96.
rationed, 96, 117.
sugar and, 96.
otherwise mentioned, 146, 161,
171, 175, 183.
Kalecki, M., 107n.
Kitchen Front, consumer's education
and, 11.

267

Kitchen waste, feedstuffs and, 55.
Labour pools, see agriculture.
Land:
fertility, 40.
productivity and fertilisers, 26.
speculation, control of, 36.
tenure, 36.
Land Fertility Scheme (1937), 28.
Lard, 90, 161.
Leeks, 159.
Lemons, 4, 159, 161.
Lend-Lease Act:
condensed milk and, 88.
farm implements and, 34.
fertiliser and, 23.
percentage of food imports and, 5.
points rationing and, 118.
Lentils, 77, 119; price control, 155.
Limes, 4.
Livestock :
animal care, 30.
Collecting Centres, 46.
National Veterinary Medical Association and, 30.
number of in Great Britain (table),
21.
policy, 24.
price policy, 45, 48.
production and shortage of feedstuffs, 50-55.
slaughter of, controlled, 78.
subsidies, 49.
Lloyd, E. M. H., 59n, 67n, 69n, 166n.
Local Food Offices, free food distribution, 128.
London County Council, 104, 131.
London Passenger Transport Board,
143.
Lord Privy Seal, chairman of Cabinet
Committee on Food Policy, 14.
Lubbock, David, 8n.
Maize, 2.
Malt, 100.
Marcom Ltd., all Margarine Manufacturers operate under it, 90.
Margarine:
control, 74.
decontrol, 90.
price control, 150, 156.
prices, 154, 163.
rationing of, 114.
vitamin content, 91, 115, 154, 182.
otherwise mentioned: 111, 113,
120, 146, 148n, 159, 183.
Margarine Manufacturers' Association,
90.
Market Supply Committee, 3.
Market vegetable growing, 18.
Marmalade, 96, 117.
Matches, 146.
Maternity and Child Welfare Centres,
free food distribution, 128.

268

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

Maximum Price Orders, offences, 168.
Meat, see also names of meats, e.g.,
beef, etc:
allotment, 79.
canned, rationed, 71, 81.
catering establishments and, 135.
control, 74, 78-82.
distribution, 81-82.
home-produced, decontrolled, 152.
imports, 2, 5, 109, 152.
Orders (by date), 208-214.
pooled, 65.
price control, 150, 157.
priorities in, 138, 141.
production in wartime, 54.
. rationing of, 111-113, 115, 120,
136, 153.
shortage of, 183.
slaughtering houses controlled, 60.
subsidies, 148, 177.
trade reorganised, 59.
transportation Government controlled, 162.
Meat Importers' National Defence
Association, 78.
Middleton, T. H., 23n, 40.
Milk:
canned, American, 125.
canned and dried, 5.
condensed, 86-88, 157.
consumption increased since war,
86.
control, 74, 85, 88.
Costings Scheme, 47.
distribution, 59, 85.
distribution priorities in, 121, 126.
Distribution Scheme, 178.
Diversion Order, 122n.
Free and Cheap Milk Scheme, 16,
44, 56, 123, 181.
imports, 86-87.
liquid, production and consumption (1938-41), England and
Wales, 56-57.
Marketing Board, 47, 82, 86, 164.
Marketing Scheme, 82.
Movements Branch, 85.
National Distribution Scheme,
125.
National Milk Scheme, 12In, 126,
149, 152, 164.
Orders (by date), 218-222.
policy, 124.
pool price, 47, 82.
price control, 83, 87, 150, 157, 164.
prices and minimum wage, 47.
production stressed, 41.
quality improving, 86.
rationing of. 111.
Scheme of Supply, distribution, 82,
84, 86, 123.
schools, 122-124.
Select Committee on National
Expenditure, 84.
shortage of, 101, 127.

subsidies, 149, 177.
tuberculin-tested, 47, 164.
otherwise mentioned, 116, 119,
136, 138, 141, 146, 148, 175,
185.
Milk in Schools Scheme, 124n.
Millers' Association, 69; control and,
76, 110.
Mincemeat, rationing of, 117.
Miners' Welfare Commission, canteens
and, 140.
Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries,
7, 55, 83n, 172n.
Ministry of Food:
Cereals Division, 76.
communal Feeding policy, 131.
criticism of, 69.
establishment of, 13.
price control and, 159, 177.
reorganised, 63.
traders organisations and, 67.
Ministry of Health, Advisory Committee on Nutrition, 3n.
Ministry of Labour, 139, 145, 151.
Ministry of War Transport, 79.
Ministry of Works and Buildings, 35.
Miscellaneous Orders (by date), 238240.
Mobile labour gangs, agriculture in,
35.
Mor, canned meat rationing and, 118.
Mutton, 148n.
Mutual Assistance Pacts, see Food
Distribution.
National Butter, 153.
National Diet, 39.
National Egg Distributing Association
Ltd., 93.
National Farmers' Union, 47.
National Federation of Corn Trade
Associations, 76.
National Federation of Wholesale
Grocers' Associations, 167n.
National Federation of Women's Institutes, 96.
National Milk Scheme, see Milk.
National Pool of Feeding Stuffs, 55.
National Straight Run Flour, see
Flour.
National Vegetable Marketing Company, 95, 155.
National Veterinary Medical Association, 30.
National War Economy, 40.
National Wheatmeal Bread, see Bread.
Nitrogenous fertilisers, supply ample,
29.
Nutrition :
Board of Education and, 122.
improvements in, 178.
vitamins and, 7.
Nutritional, content of food improved,
183.

INDEX

Nutritional needs, communal feeding
and, 142, 181.
Nutritional Education, school feeding,
182.
Oatmeal, 138.
Oats, 41, 46, 77.
Offals, unrationed, 116.
Officers of the Public Relations Division, 12.
Oil and Oilseed Brokers Ltd., 89.
Oils and Fats, 89-91; Orders (by date),
215-218.
Onions: 4, 93, 95, 111, 159.
imported, 93.
source of vitamins, 20.
supply control, 47.
Oranges:
control, 5, 97, 159, 161.
distribution, 128.
food priorities, 127.
rationing of, 176.
Orange juice, 177-178.
Order:
Acquisition of Food (Excessive
Quantities), 16.
Building Operation and Works
Engineering Construction, 139n.
Docks (Provision of Canteens),
1941, 139n.
Essential Work, 35.
Factories (Canteen), 1940, 139n.
Food (Restriction on Dealings),
72.
Milk Diversion, 122n.
Rationing (March 1940), 113.
Undertakings (Restrictions on Engagement), 1940, 35.
Wheat Control (Nov. 1939), 75.
Orders:
Bacon and Ham (by date), 242.
Butter, Margarine and Cooking
Fats, (by date), 242.
Cereals and Cereal Products (by
date), 201-207.
Cheese (by date), 222-223.
Eggs (by date), 223-225.
Fish (by date), 232-235.
Food Control, (by date), 194-240.
Fruits and Preserves (by date),
229-232.
General (by date), 195-201.
Meat and Meat Products (by
date), 208-214.
Milk (by date), 218-222.
Miscellaneous (by date), 238-240.
Oils and F a t s (by date), 215-218.
Sugar, Glucose and Invert Sugar
(by date), 235-237.
Tea (by date), 237-238.
Vegetables (by date), 225-228.
Orr, Sir John, 8n.

269

Parliamentary Committee of the Cooperative Congress, 83n, 167n.
Peas, 47, 77, 119, 155.
Pepper, 161.
Perishable foods, 59, 61.
Perry, Lord, Report on milk distribution, 84n.
Pests, agricultural, destruction of, 31.
Phosphorus, see Fertilisers.
Pickles, 100, 157.
Pigs, 46, 57; Marketing Scheme suspended, 80.
Planning, agricultural, 40.
Plant Pathological Laboratory, 29.
Plough Policy, see Agriculture.
Plums, home-grown, 95.
Points Rationing Scheme, see Rationing.
Polak, J. J., 107n, 108n.
Pork, derationed, 116; requisitioned,
152.
Port Area Grain Committee, 76.
Port Food Movements Officers, 74.
Post-war policy, farming, 33.
Potash, see also Fertilisers:
importance of, 23.
priorities in distribution of, 28.
shortage of, 27.
Potato:
control of supplies, 73.
fund, 94.
Marketing Act, 75, 94.
price control, 46, 150, 154, 157.
subsidies, 41, 46, 148n, 177.
transport control, 74.
otherwise mentioned, 57, 109, 130,
159.
Poultry :
control, 81.
decrease in, 57.
Maximum Prices Order, 170.
price control, 46, 155, 161.
rationing of, 116, 136.
Preserves, 111, 113, 146; rationing of,
117.
Price Control, 2.
catering establishments and, 170.
cost-of-living index and, 145-147.
Defence Regulations and, 157-164.
distribution, 10.
distributive margins, 158.
Enforcement Inspectors and, 166.
luxury foods, 167.
maximum prices, 157, 167.
method, 155.
Orders and black market, 168.
problems of, 8-11.
prosecutions under, 168.
retail margins, 162-164.
'standardisation and, 156.
supply and demand, and, 156.
trade customs and, 158.
wholesale margins, 160-162.
Price Determination, 157-160; Margins Committee and, 157.

270

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

Prices:
enforcement of, 164.
fixing of, 42.
fluctuations of, 149.
freezing, 177.
Goods Act (1939), 167.
maximum, 157.
policy, 44-49.
Pool (milk), 83.
processing margins, 160.
Regulations Committees, 167.
stop orders, 177.
Product Groups, confectionery control
and, 101.
Propaganda, see Consumer's
Education.
Public Air Raid Shelters, feeding in,
104.
Public Assistance Authorities, emergency feeding, 104.
Purchasing power, 8.
Queen's Messenger Food Convoys, see
Food Distribution.
Rabbit, see also Hares:
Clubs, domestic, 54.
control, 31, 81.
price control, 155.
rationing of, 116.
Ration:
books, 113, 129.
butter-margarine, 175.
coupons, 112.
extra, 53.
points, 71.
Rationing, see also various foods:
administration of, 175.
application of, 119.
development of, 111-114,
differential, 129.
effect on food habits, 109.
home-producers and, 112.
introduction of, 16.
Order (Dec. 1939), 112.
orders and various foods, 113.
Points, 70, 176.
Points, Scheme, 117.
policy, 119.
principles of, 107, 119.
purpose of, 106.
reasons for, 174.
registration and, 113.
restaurant meals and, 113.
supplementary, 120.
technique of, 9.
otherwise mentioned, 16, 50, 97,
99, 106, 108, 117.
Raw materials, agricultural, 40.
Raw materials rationed, 51.
Reception areas, food allocation in,
134.

Regional Commissioner, food distribution, 102.
Restaurant, _ British, see Communal
Feeding.
Rest Centres, emergency feeding in,
104.
Retail:
food prices, index (table), 147.
margins, 162-164.
maximum prices, 163-166.
prices, 155.
public institutions and, 72.
rationing and, 111-114, 125, 176.
subsidies and, 177.
otherwise mentioned, 16, 65, 81,
83, 88, 91, 93, 101, 152, 155, 172.
Retail Distributors' Association, 167n.
Retailers:
black market and, 164.
bread and cereals licensed, 77.
consumer's registration, 69.
Defence Regulations and, 157.
distribution, Scheme of Supply, 86.
Enforcement Inspectors, 166.
licensing system, 72.
Maximum Price Orders, 166, 177.
Rhondda, Lord, 61, 84n.
Rice:
human consumption only, 77.
points rationing of, 71.
rationing of, 119, 138.
Rose hips, source of vitamins, 128.
Rotation system, agriculture, 42.
Rothamstead Experimental Station,
fertiliser, 23.
Rowntree, B. Seebohm, 2n, 17n, 51.
Rüssel, Sir E. J., 23, 27n.
Rye, 46, 41, 77.
Sago, 71, 118.
Salmon, maximum prices, 150; rationing of, 118.
Salvage, food, organised, 103.
Sauces, 100; price control, 157.
Sausages, 116, 155; price control, 157,
163.
Schoolchildren, in agriculture, 35.
School feeding:
County Councils and, 138.
nutritional education, 182.
in wartime, 137.
School meals, 138.
Scientific Food Committee, 14, 41.
Scottish Education Department, communal feeding, 130.
Scottish Gardens and Allotments Committee, 54.
Secretary of State for Scotland, land
tenure, 36.
Select Committee on National Expenditure, see Committee.
Shadow larder, emergency conditions,
102.

INDEX

Sheep, decrease in, 57; price fixing, 46;
producers, hill, subsidised, 49.
Shellfish, 150.
Shipping space, reduction in, 5.
Silage, feedstuffs, 55.
Slaughterhouses reduced, 79.
Soil analysis, free, 28, 30.
Soups, 136.
Spam, rationing canned food, 118.
Special Commissioners, food administration, 13.
Spirits, manufacture controlled, 100.
Standardisation, trade customs, food
control, 73.
Starch, food powders, controlled, 100.
Statistical Department, Rothamstead
Experimental Station, wireworm infestation, 29.
Straw, 57.
Straw Pulp Process, see Feeding stuffs.
Subsidies :
agricultural production, 38.
bread prices, 149.
policy, cost-of-living index and,
148.
pre-war scheme and, 48.
price control and, 9.
state, 21.
otherwise mentioned, 2, 28, 43,
46, 49, 93, 154, 163, 177.
Suet, 111, 138, 176.
Sugar:
black market in, 169.
confectionery, price control, 157.
control, 74, 99.
invert, control, 100.
price control, 160.
rationing of, 111-113, 115, 120,
109, 135, 138, 141, 176.
otherwise mentioned, 5, 96, 116,
146, 150.
Sugar beets:
plant more, 41.
pre-war subsidy scheme, 48.
Sugar, Glucose and Invert Sugar
Orders (by date), 235-237.
Sulphate of ammonia, 23.
Superphosphate of lime, see Fertilisers.
Sweets Spread Scheme, rationing, 117.
Syrup, 117, 175.'
Tapioca, 71, 118.
Tea:
control, 60, 146.
Control Committee, 68.
Orders (by date), 237-238.
price control, 150.
rationing of, 109, 111, 116, 113,
120, 136.
subsidies, 177.
otherwise mentioned, 5, 100, 148n.
171.
Tea Bars, 127.

271

Tobacco, 2, 146.
Tomatoes :
control, 95, 159.
priority scheme, 56.
rationing of, 118.
otherwise mentioned, 4, 57.
Tractors, increase in (1939-41), 34.
Trade customs, standardised, see Control.
Trade Directors, function, control, only
advisory, 63.
Trades Union Congress, emergency
feeding and, 143.
Trades Union Congress Committee,
14, 157.
Treacle, 117, 175.
Trout, 150.
Undertakings (Restriction on Engagement) Order, 35.
Vegetable Marketing Board, 60.
Vegetables:
canned, 2, 4, 5, 58, 146, 161.
control, 74, 159.
non-perishable controlled, 95.
Orders (by date), 225-228.
Vegetarians, 117 ; rationing and, 119.
Vitamins:
manufacture and sale controlled,
100.
margarine, source of, 115.
otherwise mentioned: 110, 128
178.
Wages Board, agricultural, 35.
War Office, agricultural equipment, 34.
War Prisoners, agriculture in, 35.
War Time Associations, 101, 157.
Wheat Act, 1932, 20, 75.
Wheat, Agricultural (Miscellaneous
War Provisions) Act, 49.

Wheat:
Control Order, 75.
price control, 46.
quota suspended, 49.
subsidies, 21, 49, 109.
otherwise mentioned, 2, 5, 41, 77,
109, 110, 163.
Wheatmeal bread, 171 n ; see also. Bread.
Wheat offals, control, 78, 111.
Whitehead Committee, milk distribution, 83.
Wholesale Distributors' Association,
167n.
Wholesale margins, 160-162.
Wholesale Meat Supply Areas, 79.
Wholesale Meat Supply Associations,
79.
Wholesale Meat Transport Association, 79.

272

FOOD CONTROL IN GREAT BRITAIN

Wholesale prices and transport, 161.
Wholesalers, bread and cereals licensed,
77.
Winter Ration Scheme (Oct. 1941),
feedstuffs, 53.
Wireworm infestation, 29.
Women, Industry, communal feeding
and, 129.
Women's Land Army:
agriculture in, 35.
Auxiliary Force, 36.
rationing and, 119.
Women's Voluntary Service, 128.

Women's Voluntary Services, emergency feeding and, 143.
Woolton, Lord, 57n, 6In, 64n, 109n,
120, 150, 166n.
Workers' restaurants, rationing and,
112.
Yates, P. Lamartine, 173n.
Youth Service Centres, canteens and,
141.
Young Women's Christian Association,
emergency feeding, 144.