IMPORTED FLOUR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22350, 22 February 1936, Page 16

IMPORTED FLOUR

USE IN BAKERIES MILK AS SUBSTITUTE GREAT NUTRITIVE VALUE The greater use of milk by New Zealand bakers as a substitute for imported flour was suggested by Mr. James C. Gordon, of Detroit, managing director of one of the largest independent baking firms in the United States, who is .1 passenger to Australia hv the Mariposa, which arrived at- Auckland yesterday. Mr. Gordon put forward his suggestion after he had been informed of the embargo placed on imported flour under the Government's price fixation scheme. Ho said that bakers in the United States were now using as much as 40 per cent of milk in their loaves. Ihe bread had a great nutritive valuo. and was exceedingly popular. The use of milk had been brought about because the flour from the spring wheat crop could not supply the whole of the bakers' needs each year, explained Mr. Gordon. So the bakers had learned by long experience to bake just as good bread with the flour from winter wheat, which was similar to New Zealand wheat. The addition of milk had been a wonderful thing, for it had made possible the production of a loaf of great nutrition without the use of chemicals.

The increased consumption of milk for baking purposes has been a fine thing for farmers in the United States, according to Mr. Gordon, who said that prices had risen, and the shortening of the supply had made it necessary to build up dairy farms. New Zealand baking firms are mere pigmies compared with the huge organisation controlled by Mr. Gordon. His firm has baking plants in Detroit, Chicago, and New York, and operates in five States, while the Chicago plant is the largest under one roof in America. The weekly output of these bakeries is approximately 3,125,000 loaves.

The news that the Government had fixed the prices of wheat, flour, and broad proved of interest to Mr. Gordon, who described the way in which the Roosevelt Administration had attempted to raise the price of wheat under the Agricultural Adjustment Administration Act. The whole object was to raise the price by the shortening of the farmers' acreage, and consequently a processing tax was imposed on flour. Mr. Gordon said that his firm paid several thousand dollars a month in flour tax, the money going back to assist the farmer.