YEAR'S PROGRESS

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 5, 9 March 1937, Page 17

YEAR'S PROGRESS

SCIENCE IN INDUSTRY

RESEARCH QOUNCIL'S REPORT

THE MAKING OF BREAD

1 (From "The Post's" Representative) j LONDON, February 10. Scientists in British laboratories are saving industry immense sums of money and making life far more comfortable: and congenial. They have helped New Zealand with its chilled beef trade, and discovered bread that ! will not go stale, how to improve the quality of pork and bacon, and how to ' keep eggs fresh. They have provided dentists with fillings that do not fall out. cobblers with better fitting boots ' and shoes, and pilots with lighter aeroplanes. All these discoveries and many more have been made under- the aegis of a Government Department with a New Zealander as chairman of its advisory council. The Department is that of Scientific and Industrial Research. Lord Rutherford of Nelson is head of the council. " The advisory council, in the Department's annual report for 1935-36, points out that the last five years have witnessed the fruition of the policy, adopted by several large industrial undertakings, of setting well-balanced teams of research workers to solve a particular problem or to develop a new I product. This method of attack has resulted in the steady improvement of the efficiency of electric lamps, the position Great Britain has won in highdefinition television, the development on^la commercial; scale of the huge plant for the conversion of coal into oil by ■hydrogenation, the growth of the plastics .industry, and, many 'other important .advances. The ■• steady increase in the sum industry is providing for the development of the co-operative research associations is stated to give good reason for taking an optimistic view of their future. ' In the last three years this sum has increased by 40 per cent. — from £167,370 to £232,468. In .the same period the grants from the De-. partment for these organisations have increased from £68,212 to £107,451. The advisory council, however, still regards the position of the research association movement as not yet entirely satisfactory. The Department is prepared to provide a further £66,000 each ■ year for the support of the research associations, and would have been prepared to find that sum in each of the past two years had industry been ready" to provide an equivalent contribution. DIFFERENCES IN BREAD. , An investigation being carried .out by. the Flour Millers' Research Association deals with the staling, flavour, and keeping quality of bread. What the housewife usually calls "staling" is due aS a rule to poor keeping qualities in the bread. Exhaustive investigations of this aspect of the problem have shown, the report states, that bread made in.the best possible way from the best possible flour will leave little to be desired in the matter of keeping quality. Such bread will retain its edibility for ten or twelve days, whereas bread improperly made from poor flour may become most unappetising and almost uneatable in two or three days. Many other factors contributing to keeping quality have been investigated. The results of this work suggest strongly' that if more attention were paid to commercially controllable factors promoting good keeping quality of bread the serious problem of stale bread would lose some at least of its importance. This important commercial aspect of bread staling is not true staling, which is caused by a change in the form of the starch in the bread from its natural form, occurring at high temperatures, to its natural form at low temperatures. Keeping quality is independent of this in true staling except that if true staling could be prevented the bread would probably always keep well. Retaining bread at a relative high temperature is a sure way of preventing true staling, but this is not easy to carry! 6ut in commercial practice on account of increased mould growth at high temperatures. XJNSHRINKABLE WOOL. Extensive trials of the process. for producing unshrinkable wool developed by the Wool Research Association are proceeding under semi-manufacturing conditions in a specially-erected plant. This plant, is , being used for the.instruction of the operatives of firms working the process, plans for the commercial release of which are now being considered. Consideration has been given to the need of some more satisfactory means than the present voluntary levy for raising funds for extensions in the work- generally recognised. The desirability of a broader basis of organisation is emphasised by the-movement now, under way in the wool-producing countries of the Empire, towards research on the better production of wool. Co-operation between manufacturers and producers is essential if the future of wool is to be assured by all the resources derivable from science. An example of work now in hand which is of importance to" both sheep breeders and manufacturers is the investigation of methods for the quantitative measurement of wool quality. TRANSPORT AND STORAGE OP FOOD. At the Low Temperature Station, Cambridge, the effect of radiation from radio-active substances in destroying bacteria are being studied in connection with the storage of meat. Methods of storing eggs in different concentrations of carbon dioxide are being tried out on a large scale. A high concentration of, say, 60 per cent., prevents attack by mould and gives an excellent yolk, but a very fluid white. Experiments have been made on the "gas storage" of pears. British Conference pears have been stored in refrigerated chambers with the atmosphere adjusted to contain the correct amount of carbon dioxide for long periods, extending well into the summer. When removed from the store the flavour,, texture, and appearance of the pears were entirely satisfactory. Experiments have been made with ,the gas storage of Williams's Bon Chretien pears. Normally this variety is very difficult to market because it ripens quickly at ordinary temperatures and remains in an eating-ripe condition for only a few hours. By gas storage, in an atmosphere containing 2.5 per cent, oxygen and 5 per cent. carbon dioxide at 34deg F., the fruit was held in a marketable condition until the middle of March. On removal from the store at this date the pears ripened to a good quality in just over a week and remained in an eatingripe condition for two or three days. The correct conditions for gas storage have been maintained on a commercial scale in a 30-ton experimental gas store. . • , , ~ . . .

i A few minutes after he had been relieved of duty at the signal-box at Sittingboiirne. Kent, Signalman Harry Slingsby, aged 38, of Admiralty Terrace, Sittingbourne, was killed by the 5.53 a.m. train from Chatham.