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    "source_key": "britannica_1926",
    "source_title": "Encyclopaedia Britannica (1926)",
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    "chunk_id": "1926:food poisoning:6ab05f34a324",
    "title": "FOOD POISONING",
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    "verified_text": "the term food poisoning as used by public-health workers and bacteriologists docs not in- clude the deliberate addition to food of poisonous substances with criminal intent, nor yet individual idiosyncrasy or sensiti- sation to certain proteins such as those contained in strawberries, eggs, milk or shellfish. food idiosyncrasy depends primarily on a peculiar condition of the human body rather than on any dangerous quality in the food itself. the various “ deficiency diseases,”’ such as beri-beri (see 3.7740), scurvy (see 24.517b) and perhaps pellagra (sce 21.69b) and goitre (see 12.191d), which are due to the lack of some essential element in the diet, are also not usually considered as types of food poisoning. | the manifestations ordinarily grouped as food poisoning at the present time are those due to:—(1) the presence of poison- ous substances in healthy, untreated plant or animal tissues; (2) the introduction into food by accident, or design, of more or less familiar organic and inorganic poisons; (3) the presence in the food of living pathogenic bacteria or other parasites;(4) the presence in the food of poisonous substances elaborated by the growth of various micro-organisms. a poisons in plants and animals.—certain normal plant and animal tissues contain substances poisonous to man, and when eaten may cause illness and death; such are poisonous mushrooms and certain fish found in tropical waters. fatal cases of oxalic poisoning from eating the leaves of the common rhubarb have occurred. horses and cattle grazing free on the western ranges are frequently poisoned when forage is scanty and they resort to weeds and plants generally left untouched, such as the larkspur, the lupins, the water hemlock and the death camas. poisonous weeds eaten by cattle may indirectly produce poisoning in man. the disease known to the pioneer settlers in parts of the united states as milk sickness was early recognised to be connected with the occurrence of trembles in milch cows, but its origin long remained obscure. it is now believed that both fremzbles and milk sickness were due to a poisonous substance in the white snakeroot (eupatortum) which was eaten by the cows when other pasturage failed. | mineral potsons.—occasionally mineral poisons like arsenic and lead find their way by accident into food in the process of manufacture, as in the famous outbreak of pertpheral neuritis (see 2.654) in several of the midland countries in england in 1900, involving at least 6,000 persons and causing about 70 deaths. this was traced to the presence of considerable quan- tities of arsenic in the beer coming from certain breweries; it was found that the brewing sugars had been impregnated with arsenic by the sulphuric acid used in their preparation, the ar- senic itself being derived from the iron pyrites used in making the sulphuric acid. more recently the cocoa sold by an english firm contained a small amount of arsenic derived from the potas- sium carbonate employed in its manufacture. long-continued action of food on containers may dissolve harmful metals such as lead, copper or tin. tin poisoning from canned foods, although theoretically possible, is so rare as to have little practical significance, doubtless partly because such tin as is dissolved is largely fixed in an insoluble form by the solid por- tions of the canned food and eliminated directly from the body. copper, although not a violent irritant, may have a highly in- jurious effect when absorbed during many years, as in the con- stant use of distilled hquors containing copper derived from the copper worm of the condenser; cirrhosis of the liver (see 16.803) may be caused in this way. lead, owing to its well-known cumu- lative effect on the human body, is an undesirable substance to come in contact with food or drink. as long ago as 1767 the local malady of devonshire colic was shown by baker to be due to the action of cider on lead vessels. lead poisoning has also resulted from the frequent use of acid beverages in bottles with lead stoppers. when lead was generally used in glazes and enamels for cooking vessels, recognised poisoning from these sources sometimes occurred; the enamelled ware at present in common use in england and the united states is lead-free. food preservatives.—the use of food preservatives constitutes a very difficult and important phase of the problem of the addi- tion of poisonous substances to food. numerous substances have been added to food intentionally for the purpose of preventing the growth of micro-organisms and consequent spoiling. some food preservatives (see 10.612) once widely used are now known to be poisonous for man as well as antiseptic for microbes and have been generally discarded or prohibited. such are formalde- hyde and hydrofluoric acid and their derivatives. regarding some other preservative substances there is great diversity of opinion among those who have given the matter most study. the use of boron and salicylic acid compounds is generally, but not universally, disapproved. benzoic acid, sulphurous acid and sulphites are regarded by many hygienists as permissible in certain foods under controlled conditions. the differences of opinion emphasise the insuihciency of our knowledge. until information commanding the respect of all competent experts is available, it is well to err on the side of caution and minimise the use of preservatives. the practice of adding poisonous substances to food merely for the sake of altering colour or appearance has nothing to rec- ommend it. at the present time any danger of actual poisoning 58 from colouring matter added to candy, pastries and the like is slight. in most countries the health authorities maintain a list of the substances, such as certain coal-tar dyes, which are permitted, and prohibitory regulation is strictly enforced. in the united states no colours and no preservatives in foods are permitted unless they are deemed harmless. (see foon, pure.) bacterial poisoning.—vood may serve as the vehicle for certain kinds of disease-producing bacteria and other parasites. in some instances the bacteria are exclusively of human origin and occur in or upon the food as the result of contact with sewage- contaminated water or through handling by a carrier of disease germs, ¢.g., the contamination of oysters with typhoid bacilli present in polluted water and the contamination of milk by a typhoid carrier on a dairy farm. in other instances the bacteria present in the food are derived from an infection of the food animal. this second class of infections is especially important in any survey of food poisoning since the gastro-intestinal symp- toms produced are often sudden and violent; many of the most typical and best known mass outbreaks of food poisoning belong to this group. the nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea that characterise these attacks usually attract attention to some article of food eaten shortly before. an attack of this kind rarely terminates fatally,and the symptoms pass off within 24 to 48 hours, having little after effect. often a history of illness in the slaughtered animal can be secured. some of the most extensive outbreaks of meat poisoning in european countries have been traced to the use of meat from an animal noticed to be ailing and promptly killed by the thrifty peasant as an emergency measure. the bacteria that cause this typical form of food poisoning belong for the most part to the group of paratyphoid bacilli, organisms closely related biologically to the typhoid bacillus, but distinguishable by laboratory tests. within the group of paratyphoid bacilli there are several different species (e. g., b., enteritidis, b. acrtrycke, b. suipestifer) that primarily cause disease in various domestic animals, but secondarily and occa- sionally give rise to food poisoning in man. food poisoning from paratyphoid bacilli would probably be much more common than it is if foods were not usually cooked. these bacteria are killed by boiling, and the history of many attacks shows that, while parts of an animal eaten raw or partly cooked have given rise to illness, other portions cooked before being eaten have been quite innocuous. sausages made from uncooked meat or internal organs (liver sausage, blood sausage, etc.) have been the cause of food poisoning in a disproportionately large number of cases. unfortunately inspection of the meat before sale may fail to reveal any evidence of infection, so that protection against this form of food poisoning depends chiefly on (a) the selection of healthy animals for slaughter and (8) thorough cooking of all foods of animal origin. foods may be also contaminated with paratyphoid bacilli by the agency of rats and mice. these rodents suffer from natural infections with these bacteria and can become carriers. rodent contamination must always be reckoned a possibility in inves- tigating outbreaks of this type. certain of the higher animal parasites occasionally enter the human body in contaminated food. the small roundworm (trichinella) that causes trichinosis is one of the best known. thorough cooking is an effective safeguard. ergotism.—one of the earliest established instances of poison- ing due to the products formed by the growth of micro-organisms in food substances is the disease of ergotism (st. anthony's ftre) (see 9.738) so prevalent in the middle ages. ergot is the poison formed by a fungus that grows on rye; in times of famine the enforced use of rye that would not otherwise have been eaten led to much suffering and many thousands of deaths. ptomaines.—it was long believed that many instances of gastro-intestinal disturbance—the typical food poisoning of the layman—were due to the products of various micro-organisms found in partly spoiled or decomposed food. definite chemical substances—pfomaines (see 3.174)—were incriminated, and the expression piomaine poisoning (see 22.629) came for a time to play as large a part in popular self-diagnosis as “ influenza ” or food poisoning *““ the grip.” in point of fact ptomaine poisoning, if it occurs at all, must be exceedingly rare. ptomaines appear in food substances in the later stages only of putrefaction—after about a week! alleged instances of ‘* ptomaine poisoning ”’ when investigated by modern methods may almost always be traced with greater plausi- bility to some other form of food poisoning. ‘‘ ptomaine poison- ing ’’ may be a convenient refuge from aetiological uncertainty; it is not a satisfactory diagnosis for illness or death. the products of paratyphoid bacilli that have grown in food may in some instances be the cause of food poisoning, even when the bacteria themselves have been killed. ‘the determination of this question presents great technical difficulties and has not yet been settled. botulism —the most conspicuous and definite example of poisoning from a microbic product formed in food is botulism (see 18.30). the chief symptoms of botulism are nervous rather than gastro-intestinal. disturbance of vision (double vision), great weakness and difficulty in swallowing, are common signs; there is little or no fever and the temperature may be subnormal; there is rarely any pain and the mentality remains clear; the disease is always serious, over 60% of the cases resulting fatally. from 1899 to 1924 in the united states 129 outbreaks occurred, affecting 435 people and causing 2090 deaths. in the only out- break known to have occurred in great britain (loch maree, 1922), eight persons were affected and all died. botulism is due to a specific germ (clostridium botulinum) which has great heat resistance and is also able to grow in the absence of oxygen. under favourable conditions it elaborates a toxin which is one of the most poisonous substances known. although the germ is widely distributed in soil in many parts of the world, the con- ditions necessary for its development in foodstuffs are so seldom present that botulism is one of the rarest of human affections. the lack of a suitable temperature, a certain degree of acidity of the culture medium, an over-abundant supply of oxygen, the presence of certain other micro-organisms are factors that may interfere with the growth of this organism and prevent toxin formation. nevertheless scattered cases of botulism have occurred at intervals in europe and america for over 100 years. the first cases to be described were caused by sausage, hence the name botulism. meat pickled in brine has also been known to contain botulism toxin. in recent years canned foods of various kinds, vegetables as well as meats, have been implicated. . the majority of the cells of cl. botulinum are killed by temperatures slighily above boiling, but a very small number may survive prolonged exposure to 115° c. or even higher. the most obvious mode of protection against this form of food poisoning is to ensure cleanliness in all foods subjected to preservative processes and, in the case of heat-preserved foods, to use so far as practicable temperatures high enough to destroy the most resistant spores of cl. botulinum.| the majority of canned foods proved to contain botulism toxin give sensible evidence of spoilage. the botulism toxin, unlike the organism that produces it, is readily destroyed by boiling. the immediate rejection, without tasting, of any food showing signs of spoilage, and the re-cooking of canned foods before serving, constitute a second line of defence. if these precautions are followed, botu- lism already rare should become practically unknown. bibliograpiy.—general! treatises on food poisoning: e. sacque- pee, les empotsonnements alimentaires (1909); <1 study of 100 re- cent outbreaks of food poisoning, by w. g. savage and p. b. white, published by the medical research council (1925); e. o. jordan, food potsoning (chicago, 1917); w. g. savage, food potsoning and food infections (cambridge, 1920); w. g. savage, canned foods (cambridge, 1923). on food preservatives: otto k. folin, pre- servatives and other chemicals in foods: their use and a buse (harvard, 1914); the british ministry of health’s report on preservatives and colouring matter in food (1924). for the paratyphoid infections, sce e. hiibener, fleischvergiftungen und paratyphusinfektionen (jena, 1910); gerald leighton, botulism (1923). see also special articles in the journal of infectious diseases, chicago, the u.s, 1 temperature and time of exposure must be considered and also the difference in heat penetration, the degree of acidity of the food substance, the extent to which the appearance, and consequent marketability, is affected by the treatment, and other factors food preserving—food supply public health reports, washington, and the american journal of public health, new york; also the monograph botulism, by ernest c, dickson, monographs of the rockefeller institute for medical research, no. 8, new york (1918). (ef. 0.) food preserving: see canning. food service.—in the united states there has been, since 1910, an increasing tendency on the part of americans to take their meals outside of their homes, 7.e., the growth of the com- munity kitchen and its corollary the community dining room. community kitchens and dining rooms.—many reasons may be assigned for this movement. in the first place it was a natural step in view of the changes in the home itself: the urban home had become smaller, for every square inch of floor area, every cubic inch of space, cost money in rent, and consequently the functions of the home were limited so as to effect a reduction of space. the home kitchen shrank first to the kitchenette and is now in process of vanishing entirely. even where the space for an elaborate kitchen is available, the problem of getting suitable servants is so troublesome as to induce many to get along with a minimum of domestic service, and, as the mistress of the house is herself less willing to be a kitchen drudge than formerly, many meals are taken outside the home, particularly those of an elaborate nature. private hospitality is more and more offered in hired hotel space in preference to the home. banquets and other special functions are easily handled in public dining rooms and involve little responsibility on the part of the host and hostess. the emancipation of women is another factor. many women have succeeded in establishing themselves, professionally or commercially, before marriage. they prefer financial independ- ence to keeping house. the small, compact, efficiently arranged apartment is the result, with meals away from the home. these factors are intensified by the constantly rising standards of living and by the greatly improved marketing technique which has stimulated a demand for many possessions previously non-existent or rare. demands upon the family income have advanced, encroaching upon the former budget allotment for rent and servants. small and servantless homes come as a natural sequence. if even then the income is too meagre, the modern woman has no hesitation in aiding her husband to double it by taking a position herself. another blow to the home as the chief or sole source of prepared food has been dealt by the automobile and touring habit. it is estimated that in 1910 there were in the united states less than 350,000 automobiles; in 1925 over 17,000,000 were registered.. such an increase in the use of a personal means of conveyance with a day’s travel radius of, say, 200 m. could not but have its effect on the food habits of the nation. ‘‘ automobile ” business is considered a substantial part of the total business of hotels and restaurants. the hotel kitchen, like its domestic counterpart, has had its troubles with its personnel, and for similar reasons. working, however, on a larger scale and increasingly on standardised products, it can make readier use of machines as a substitute for labour. the modern quantity kitchen is thinly staffed but splen- didly equipped. wauashing-machines for dishes, glassware and silver, each adapted to the task in hand, enable two men to do the work of ten and to do it better. there is less breakage, the silver bears an enhanced sheen, and the bactcria count 1s reduced go per cent. dirt and filth, once the bugbears of any but the most expensive dining places, are now perhaps more rare in hotels than in the home. there are also the great mixers which, for example, beat up a bushel of mashed potatoes or a gallon of cream with equal facility, the steam-cookers, the potato-peelers and a host of smaller indispensables that save time, labour and space where food is cooked on a wholesale scale. electricity has helped in cookery and is now applied to refrigeration. the cafetcria sysicm.—the service side of the problem has also advanced. the use of the steam-table has solved one of the problems of public service by keeping dishes hot and food tasty during the minutes or even hours that elapse between preparation and eating. the modern coffee-urn makes possible the prepara- tion of five gallons at one time, a difficult feat under the old procedure. the newer methods of service bring the consumer 59 and his food together without delay. the cafeteria system, under which all the dishes in the menu are displayed before the cus- tomer, who: helps himself, has made quick service possible and cheap. whatever losses there may be aesthetically, and these need be few, are broadly balanced by the pleasure of being able to make a direct selection of food. incidentally, the cafeteria system has placed a premium on attractive, neatly arranged dishes. another development, exclusively metropolitan, for those who want only a little food quickly, is that of the sandwich shop, luncheonette or expanded soda-fountain counter, where light refreshments are dispensed under conditions that permit high speed. frequently these places are operated in chains, so that large numbers of sandwiches, for instance, are prepared in a locality where rent is low and trucked to small luncheon counters crowded into nooks that tap main streams of city workers. such places appeal to the clerical worker or office girl who has little to spend and who seeks only a light lunch. a closely related development is the delicatessen store, which sells prepared food but does not serve it. ‘these, located in territories of concentrated population, present still another solu- tion to the consumer’s problems of limited space and few and high-priced servants. they eliminate much of the work and annoyance of cooking food in small, ill-ventilated apartments, while permitting the enjoyment of family privacy in consuming it. similarly, in the large apartment hotels recently erected in the big cities, provision is usually made for extensive ‘ room service.”? the kitchens of the hotel make it a part of their business to prepare meals which will be served in the rooms of the apartment dwellers. special elevators and floor pantries assist, and special dishes and equipment have been devised to help keep the food in its best condition. such a combination of wholesale cookery with individual service is practicable only in large, high-grade apartment hotels, but it has distinct advantages where conditions permit its use. the conditions described are evident to all observers. accurate statistics on the subject are lacking, however. difficulties in the definitions of hotels, restaurants, boarding-houses and other eating places make current figures unreliable, and even less reliable the figures of r910. two estimates may be mentioned. the hotel monthly calculates that nearly 5,000,coo persons in the united states take a majority of their meals in public eating places and that they spend therein over 1,250 million dollars a year for a total of 4,000 million meals. ifotel afanagement, on the other hand, estimates that about 8,ooo million meals per year are served outside homes and, taking a somewhat higher average amount spent (50 cents as compared with 35), reaches a figure of 4,000 million dollars of annual expenditure in public dining-rooms. this wide divergence between two competent authorities illustrates the difficulty of accurate estimate in hotel and restaurant statistics. it is evident, however, that the nation’s restaurant bill might conservatively be estimated at over 1,000 million dollars a year. if the value of the food eaten by the employees and managers themselves and that sold for immediate consumption is included, but the canned and package- prepared foods omitted, a figure of 2,000 millions was probably too low rather than too high in 1925. (h. b. m.) food supply.— war influences the food supply in belligerent countries directly, and in neutral countries indirectly, through deterioration or distortion of agriculture, disorganisation of shipping, disintegration of finance and changes in consumption. during post-war reconstruction the abnormalities persist in modified form, broadly proportional to the severity and duration of the struggle, often attended by new disturbances contingent on inherent developments or proceeding from misdirected efforts at restoration of the status guo ante bellum. sooner or later, a new equilibrium is established between agriculture, industry, trans- portation and finance. during a war of large extent and long duration, agriculture suffers heavily in the belligerent countries and prospers seem- ingly in unadjacent neutral countries. after the war, agriculture recovers in the belligerent countries, but in the neutral countries undergoes liquidation. the governmental restraint of competi- 60 tion, effectual during war, is likely to be followed by excessive competition. it is from this panoramic viewpoint that a scru- tiny of the results of the world war on the food supply of the world is to be undertaken. i. the war and agriculture shortage of men, horses and fertilisers -——no matter how cate- gorically agriculture is classified as an essential industry in a country at war, the labouring forces of the land are drawn on by the military authorities. landowners, tenants and hired workers are mobilised for military service. horses are requisitioned. in the world war this recruiting of rural workers continued inter- mittently until the farm work was done largely by males past middle age and under 16, and by women. the working forces suffered in number, in skill and experience. some replacement was effected by stationing prisoners of war on the land, but the agricultural result was everywhere inconsiderable. the requisi- i9t4 world production the world’s total production in 1924-5 was estimated at 1,300,000,000 quintals. incomplete data. no data is available for china after 1914.) tioning of horses made it necessary to use cattle as work animals, to the direct injury of the milk supply. only a partial picture of the effect of military recruiting is obtained by contrasting with the rural population the number of soldiers drawn from the land. the effect was more than the numerical ratio, and worsened progressively as the war con- tinued. it was only by the redoubled and heroic efforts of old men, women and children that agriculture was kept going. not alone human and animal forces were reduced, but material forces also. after the second year of the war there was practically no upkeep of implements. deterioration of equipment rendered cultivation of the soil ineffective and imposed undue hardship on the workers, and agricultural practice became primitive and manual. | pre-war european agriculture was heavily dependent on the use of chemical fertilisers, the supply of which declined rapidly. the united kingdom drew saltpetre from chile, phosphates from the united states and potash from germany; under scar- city of tonnage and the munition demand for nitrogen, chile saltpetre as a fertiliser became practically as scarce in the united kingdom as was potash from germany, and imports of phos- phate declined. despite huge domestic deposits of potash, ger- many was unable to maintain the pre-war use of potash, though large amounts were applied to certain areas for particular crops in the vain hope of making good the lack of nitrate and phosphate. since no imported phosphate rock was available to germany, a grossly inadequate volume of thomas slag remained her only source of phosphate. in france, the use of phosphate rock, saltpetre and potash declined to insignificant amounts. in all belligerent countries, the by-product ammonia, pre- viously largely used as fertiliser, went into munitions. deprived of german potash, the agriculture of the united states was world production excluding china fig. the total world production of rice in 1914 was estimated at 2,000,000,000 quintals. the total annual production of countries for which returns were obtained averaged 769,496,000 quintals for the period [909-10 to 1913-4, and 849,415,000 quintals for 1924-5. food supply limited to the petty amounts of potash produced in war-born plants. phosphate the united states had in abundance, until transportation became too congested to permit of normal move- ment. saltpetre continued to be used on the soil in that country, though to a reduced extent. sugar-producing areas, such as the west indies, the ilawaiian is. and java, found their supplies of nitrate and ammonia greatly reduced. the neutral countries of europe were little better off than the belligerents. germany did, indeed, furnish potash to holland and scandinavia, as de- liveries in blockade bargainings, but the amounts were small. everywhere in europe the prices of nitrate, ammonia, phosphate and potash became excessive for agriculture, when contrasted with the returned increments in crop yields. the cumulative results of withdrawal of men and horses, de- terioration of farm implements and jack of fertilisers operated in belligerent countries, so far as field crops were concerned, in four directions, mainly: (1) acreage was reduced. (2) yields per 1924 europe 1% british india 57h y japanese e world production excluding china (note.—percentages are necessarily approximate owing to acre were lowered. (3) weeds, pests and diseases had free run with corresponding deterioration of farm products. (4) the losses attending unfavourable weather were accentuated. in general, the same situation held to some extent in the neu- tral countries of europe. men left the farms to take advantage of higher wages in industries. horses were taken from the farms to be used in urban work or sold to belligerents. farm imple- ments were allowed to deteriorate, because the factories found it more profitable to manufacture war tools than to make replace- ment parts. fertilisers were unavailable or expensive. finally, the agriculture of neutral countries suffered inordinately from disorganisation of natural markets through the operations of blockades. for the reduction in acreage and yield of the principal crops and the reduction in cattle, sheep and horses (see agri- culture; grain production and trade). preference to primary foodstuffs —it became a necessary war policy of agriculture in belligerent countries to use land for primary foodstuffs in place of raising feeding stuffs out of which meat and dairy products might be produced. according to common [:uropean practice, an acre of land devoted to bread grains would produce more than four times as many calories for human food in the form of flour as could be secured in the form of meat and dairy products if the land were devoted to animal husbandry. in the case of potatoes, the economy in jand was still greater. contrasting beef cattle, hogs and dairy cows, the greatest waste of land occurred in the production of beef, the ratio of return being much greater in the form of pork or milk. on the other hand, cattle subsisted largely on forage not suit- able for human food, while hogs were raised to a considerable extent on cereals adapted to human use or on special fodders grown on land that could produce cereals, potatoes or sugar. in order to make the best use of the land in terms of human nutrients, belligerent coun- tries were compelled to reduce heavily the herds of swine and beef cattle. the count of dairy cattle was somewhat reduced, though efforts were made to conserve the milk supply. asa result of these operations, some performed voluntarily by the food supply peasants and others executed under governmental orders, the count of cattle in europe was reduced probably by 20-25 °> and of swine 30-40%. despite the fact that sheep stood somewhat apart from cattle and swine, the general result was much the same, though some countries like germany increased the number of sheep and goats. sheep competed little with human beings for products of the soil or in the use of acreage, subsisting largely on feeding stuffs inappro- priate to human use and grown on terrain unadapted to cultivation, in addition, wool was highly valuable; nevertheless, some countries showed a heavy reduction in the count of sheep. . the yield of meat and fat per animal was reduced owing to scarcity of feeding stuffs and to an abnormally high percentage of slaughter of immature animals. on the other hand, peasants concealed ani- mals from the authorities, reporting fewer animals than they had and delivering less of products that they produced. this duplicity on the part of the peasants was due partly to predilection for animal husbandry, partly to the greater profits of animal products as against cereals or other primary foodstuffs. the evasion thus described was least in evidence in great britain. in every country one found after the war widely contrasting arcas, some in which animal hus- bandry was most deplorably reduced, while in others the conditions were practically normal. a it is difficult to compare estimates of acreage under cultivation and counts of domesticated animals with those of the pre-war period on account of the changes in the map of europe. [t seems probable, regarding europe (excluding russia) as a whole, that the acreage under cultivation and the count of domesticated animals has been restored generally to the pre-war level. the restoration of cultivated acreage has not been accompanied by restoration of pre- war yields, since there is still shortage of fertilisers. also, the yield of meat and dairy products per head of animals is below the pre-war level, due to shortage of imported feeding stuffs. it 1s difficult to accomplish a restoration of animal husbandry in europe until feeding stuffs from russia are again freely available. broadly considered, the recovery of european agriculture in the seven years after the world war was more rapid than was to have been expected, in consideration of the extent and duration of the struggle. adaptive devices of a griculture.—efforts were quite generally made in the belligerent countries, following agricultura) policics that varied in accordance with the characteristics of the region, to raise the maximum volume of foodstuffs in terms of calories. the agrarian class everywhere had two motives: patriotism and price, though patriotism was perhaps tess effective than price as a stimulant to production. in many countries peasants would give their sons with- out question, but not their crops, particularly not their animals. in order to stimulate production, farm prices were advanced, costs of distribution were reduced by establishing control of middlemen, and prices to consumers fixed at the lowest relative level possible; but the systems adopted worked out less well in some countries than in others. as the burdens and costs of agriculture rose, the price de- mands of peasants increased. in every country the rural population believed there was profiteering by urban industries, a belief which led to reprisals by agrarian classes in the form of pressing demands for higher prices for farm products, governments everywhere were trying to satisfy the city with lower prices and the country with higher prices, usually failing in both directions. in some countries, farm prices of produce rose to four or five times pre-war figures. in the neutral countries of europe the situation was much the same, these countries were exporting farm produce to the bellig- erents. usually the warring groups were bidding against each other. each belligerent group used the power of the blockade to coerce the neutral countries of northwestern europe. the governments of these neutral countries were concerned with keeping the urban cost of living down; but they had an interest in permitting the peasants to exploit the belligerents as much as possible. the peasants in neutral countries had valid grounds for high prices, since the costs of agricul- ture and of consumers’ goods had risen. they demanded coverage prices, then still more. under these circumstances, in the neutral countries of europe, as well as in belligerent countries, wherever transportation permitted movements of foodstuffs and feeding stuffs, there was a continuous trend towards higher prices for farm products, restrained or directed by governmental control, though practically unrestrained by competition between producers. | all growers of cane sugar were at the mercy of the allies, and sugar prices were definitely restrained; nevertheless, war prices were substantially higher than those prevalent before the war. in bellig- erent canada and australasia, prices of essential foodstuffs rose gradually throughout the war, particularly those destined for ship- ment to europe. the neutral countries of south america were able to secure relatively higher prices for essential foodstuffs, though the prices of some unessential foodstuffs declined. raising wheat in argentina was a better business than raising coffee and chocolate in tropical america. the markets of the central powers were closed to neutral over- seas countries by blockade; shipments from neutral overseas coun- tries to the markets of neutral european countries were restricted by allocations by the allies. entrance to the markets of the allies was restricted by governmental control over imports, attempting to separate essentials from non-essentials (see control), with the oi result that necessaries were able to command higher prices, while the prices of non-essentials declined heavily in the countries of origin. ij. effect of the war on consumption the per-capita intake of food was relatively reduced all over europe, and absolutely reduced in the belligerent countries. nevertheless, the per-capita food needs were higher in war than in peace; europeans worked harder, wore poorer clothing, and heated their houses sparingly, all of which meant increase in food requirements. in many belligerent countries it was impossible to secure a bal- anced cliet with the requisite quantities of proteins and vitamins, and the situation became worse with each year of the war. with increased heat requirements, per-capita shortage of calories re- sulted in loss of body weight. scarcity in the indispensable fac- tors of the diet, together with a low intake of protein, resulted in retardation of growth of children, and in the development of marasmusanddyscrasias. despite a quite general lowering of the birth-rate, in many countries morbidity and mortality were in- creased in children below the roth year. stunted growth was fre. quently observed between the roth and 15th years; and the phys- ical structure of many european children has been permanently injured by the nutritional disturbances of the war diet. the course of tuberculosis was intensified and the decline of the aged accelerated. mere loss in body weight, quite generally ob- served in healthy adults in the countries of the central powers, was probably on the whole not an injury. the pre-war level of consumption of food, in quality and in quantity, was not restored with peace. indeed, in many parts of l-urope, despite extensive relicf operations conducted by the amcri- can relief administration (extending practically through three years following the armistice), malnutrition and subnutrition per- sisted for years. even in jan. 1926 the diet of europe in the com- parative pre-war sense was, perhaps, normal only in scandinavia, spain, portugal and holland. the per-capita diet of the former belligerent countries is still probably somewhat subnormal in quanti- ty and abnormal in respect of certain components, pecially the relations of primary and secondary foodstuffs. europe, as a con- tinent, has to-day a notably heavier vegetarian diet than before the war, and this may be expected to persist for some time to come. the dict of europe is still probably deficient in fats. the supply of animal fats was reduced by slaughter of animals. furthermore, the animals were insufficiently fed, and gave less milk-fat and less carcass-fat. before the war europe imported large supplies of veg- etable oils. russian export of vegetable oils ceased in 1915, and the blockade prevented edible oils from reaching the central powers from overseas. scarcity of tonnage and marine warfare reduced the importation of edible vegetable oils to the allied countries. jmporta- tions into the neutral countries of europe were reduced by blockade rationing. the effect was to lower the ratio between the fat and starch components of the diet of each country. shortage of fat was more severely felt than shortage of sugar, and intensified the effects of shortage of milk. the war induced modifications of the diet in many countries in europe as the result of peasant reactions to governmental control. illicit trade in foodstuffs, inevitable under any system of war con- trol, became worse as the war continued and the technique of evasion was developed. (national pyschologies differed; there was comparatively little illicit food trade in england; in germany it was rampant.) food smuggling became a profession. as the war pro- ceeded and the difference in price-returns between cereals and animal products became more extreme, the peasants concealed animals, delivered to markct at the fixed price as little of animals and animal products as possible, sold as much as possible at high prices through illicit traffic, and increased the farm-household con- sumption. milk, the most important single food for the urban popu- lation, suffered most because butter was the favourite article of illicit traffic. there was in most countries, therefore, a substantial degree of justice tn the contention of urban socialists, that the coun- try districts were treasonably enriching the rural diet at the expense of the urban working classes. this situation did not terminate with the war. even after seven years of peace in many countries of europe, of which perhaps russia is the most notable illustration, the dict of the rural classes is richer in animal products than it was before the war; the dict of the urban classes is poorer. with deterioration of the buying power of urban workers since the war, this has had the result of increasing rural consumption of animal products; the town diet has become more vegetarian. ii. liquidation of war conditions the abnormalities in the production, marketing and consump- tion of foodstuffs during the reconstruction period were due toa 62 variety of factors. manufacturers who enlarged plants, making goods usable during peace as well as war, but subject to particu- lar wastage during war, foresaw the dangers of such war expan- sion as would represent over-extension after the war, and ina variety of ways sought to evade the losses of post-war liquida- tions. the world still has unliquidated war expansions in {lour- milling, sugar-refining, milk-condensing, food-canning, copper- smelting and leather-making, to mention only a few illustrations. agriculture was generally urged to expand, with the result (natu- rally with exceptions in different countries and to different extents in different regions) that at the close of the war agri- culture was over-extended by comparison with the pre-war posi- tion, and particularly with respect to the purchasing power of the world. over europe the emphasis on the extension of primary food- stuffs, the reduction in the herds of domesticated animals, the scarcity of fertilisers and the deterioration of farm implements, together with the pressure to produce food stuffs to the maxi- mum extent, led to the ploughing up of grass lands, to be used for the raising of primary foodstuffs. agricultural authorities foresaw clearly the inevitable future repercussion of this move- ment. the policy of turning pasture to tillage reached its highest expression in the united kingdom, and the deplorable post-war results are most clearly seen there, though observed to a lesser extent on the continent. since the war, the agriculture of the united kingdom has experienced a crisis as severe as that which characterised the period of agitation over the corn laws. british farmers have found that the enlarged area of tillage cannot be remuneratively cultivated; operative costs have been high, and the country has been deluged by agricultural produce flowing from overseas countries also suffering from war-expansion of agriculture. throughout europe, one of the results of agrarian distress, pro- ceeding more or less from war over-expansion in the different countries, has been the revival of agrarian protectionist move- ments. this is not to be interpreted to suggest that europe con- templates de-industrialisation in favour of agriculture; it repre- sents merely a grasping at what seems to be an instrument of first aid. in part, it is a beggar-your-neighbour movement. cereals.—europe may be expected slowly to recover her pre- war output of primary and secondary foodstuffs. this has been practically attained for cereals, and will soon be accomplished for sugar. in russia, the recovery of agriculture has been most delayed, and the period of reconstruction may be notably pro- longed. the recovery of agriculture is more rapid in western europe than in the central countries between the baltic and the adriatic seas, on account of the higher natural position of agri- culture, better railways, sounder fiscal policies and superior governments. since the world war, western europe has been compelled to secure a larger proportion of her imports of cereals from overseas, so that overseas countries have temporarily re- placed russia and the danubian and balkan states. sooner or later (probably sooner for the danubian and balkan states and later for russia), these states will return to their natural position as preferred primary sources of supply of cereals for western europe—for the one main reason, in addition to others, that these exporting countries must pay for necessary manufactured goods from western europe with exports of cereals. during this time of readjustment the over-extended surplus- producing countries of north america, south america and australasia face a gradual reduction in the scale of this agricul- ture, in so far as they may not be able to find new markets in the expanding population of the world. the average acreage of the staple cereals in the united states during the years 1918, 1919 and 1920, was 230,000,000; the acreage in 1924 was 218,000,000. but for wheat the extent of liquidation represents a reduction of something near 20,000,000 acres. in the case of canada, argentina and australia, there has been no such decline in wheat-growing. indeed, the combined acreage in these three countries suggests continued expansion rather than contraction. when the definitive restoration of wheat-growing occurs in eastern europe, wheat-growers in food supply canada, argentina and australia will face liquidation with the development of a diversified agriculture, as has happened in the united states, or new markets for wheat must be acquired. the outcome will depend, among other things, upon develop- ment in the standard of living in the world, the penetration of industrialisation into russia and asia, and the competition be- tween wheat, rice, millet and maize. sugar.—a good illustration of the disturbance in a staple foodstuff as a result of war is to be observed in sugar. before the | tt | emesuee | tt | ly million quintals jgzechoslo ak , ys foy ry 0 isom 12 siz1s is sms 1916 s161? 1917-18 1938-19 1919-20 1920-24 192)-22 1922-23 1923-24 1924-25 fic. 2.—graphs showing the production of raw sugar in the chief sugar-producing countries, for each year from igi0-1 to 1924-5. war, beet sugar and cane sugar competed internationally. beet sugar was grown little outside europe and russia; cane sugar was grown in practically all tropical countries, and could readily be expanded. the production of beet sugar was greatly reduced during the war. the countries of western europe replaced the beet sugar they had previously purchased from central and east- ern europe in part with cane sugar from overseas. a widespread expansion of sugar-cane growing followed. in some of the sugar- cane countries the planting is annual; in others the cane is cut, without replanting, over a number of years. when a new stand of sugar cane has been set and provided with transportation and refinery, this culture tends to persist, since sugar-growing is a form of agriculture associated with large capital. in 1909-13 the world crop of bect sugar was about 8,000,000 short tons and of cane sugar about 10,000,000 short tons. in 1920-1 the world crop of cane sugar was over 13,000,000 short tons and of beet sugar only 5,000,000 short tons. since then the production of cane sugar has continued to increase; at the same time, the beet-sugar areas are being restored. the sugar crop of the present season is over 17,000,000 short tons of cane sugar and over 9,000,000 short tons of beet sugar. when beet-sugar cultivation in europe and russia has been fully restored, unless there is some diminution in the output of cane sugar, the whole crop will be something like 18,000,o00 short tons of cane sugar and 10,000,000 short tons of beet sugar. can the world absorb this sugar? certainly—at a price. whether, with the restora- tion of the bect-sugar yields, the expanded cane-sugar acreage can be maintained or must be reduced, remains to be seen. in the meantime, the result for the world is a large supply of sugar at a beneficent price. recent complicating developments are governmental restriction of cane-sugar production in cuba and governmental bounty on beet-sugar production in great britain. other illustrations of agricultural expansions that became food supply transformed into problems of liquidation are cattle-raising in the united states and argentina and sheep-raising in australasia. the expansion in cattle-raising in the united states was relative rather than absolute; none the less, the difficulties of american cattlemen have been due in good part to an increase in export of beef products from something like 150,000,000 lb. per annum just before the war to over half a billion ib. in 1918-9, with subsequent recession to the pre-war level. this restriction of outlet, together with other factors, has necessitated a heavy liquidation. in the case of argentina, the volume of the war market for chilled, frozen and packed meats resulted in over- expansion of the industry, followed by a post-war crisis so severe as to have prompted governmental action in price-fixing and subsidy. this also holds true of animal husbandry in australasia, which, despite the distance, was led to over-expansion as a re- sult of heavy demand for chilled and frozen meats during the war. in australia also, the crisis of liquidation found expression in the use of public funds for the purpose of stabilising prices and minimising losses. there is scarcely a country in the world in which some par- ticular form of agricultural production was not over-stimulated during the war. hence, post-war problems of liquidation of varying extent and severity have everywhere arisen—writing- off of inventories and absorption of losses, liquidations imperative for the safe conduct of future business. students of world agri- culture may agree that producers exploited the belligerent coun- tries during the war. they will also probably agree, a decade from now, that the gains of such profiteering have already been lost, or more than lost, to the agriculturists as a whole, if not to particular individuals. and high food prices imposed on con- sumers between 1915 and 1920 have since been requited by dumping foodstuffs at less than the cost of production. in particular countries, certain crops did not share in the world war expansion but have nevertheless suffered 1n the post-war liquidation. of these, illustrations are wheat-growing in aus- tralia and sugar-raising in java. australia was too far from europe to have much call on ocean tonnage for shipment of wheat, and wheat accumulated in australia during the war. these accumulations were exposed to heavy losses; grain is marketed in australia in bags, storage capacity is limited, and large amounts of grain were exposed to vermin and the elements. australia had no opportunity remuneratively to unload wheat on the world before the collapse of the wheat price in 1920. the situation thus created was one of unusual gravity for the small population of the commonwealth, and has found expression in more or less continuous pooling and price regulation. in the case of java, western european needs for sugar could be covered with sugar purchased on money borrowed from the united states and with a much shorter ocean haul. thus the sugar industry of java was stagnant during the war, and although it enjoyed a short period of high prosperity just after the war, this was soon terminated by the collapse of sugar prices. the history of sugar prices during and since the war furnishes a good illustration of the contrast between correct statistics and incorrect opinions. following decontrol of sugar, with the failure of purchase of the cuban crop for the season 1919-20, the public, including sugar-producers, american importers, refiners, whole- salers, fruit-packers and candy-makers, assumed that the sup- plies available to the united states were short and inadequate to her needs, that demand for sugar in that country would prove to be quite inelastic, that sugar-hungry europe would expand her importations, and that the rest of the world contained no visible or invisible stocks of moment. on the basis of these assumptions, a veritable trade hysteria resulted, culminating finally in a sugar price of some 23 cents. these stated assump- tions were all more or less unfounded, and as the facts became revealed the price of sugar declined precipitously. the cuban supply proved larger than anticipated; consumers’ demand in the united states was found to be relatively elastic; sugar- hungry europe did not demand more sugar at high prices. in- stead of a shortage of sugar stocks throughout the world, sugar poured in from every conceivable direction. hoarding was re- 63 placed by dumping. the huge gains in the spectacular rise of price (some realised, but mostly paper profits) were replaced by huge real losses that fell on producers, refiners and traders. since sugar-beet growing in europe is a long-view proposition, the recovery of this branch of agriculture was aided little by the price rise and has been retarded little by the price decline. iv. considerations bearing on movement of foodstuffs despite the fact that the food supply is classed as the prime necessity of society, demand for foodstuffs is somewhat elastic and there is considerable variability contingent on adaptations and substitutions provoked by price relations. to a considerable extent, also, the distribution of foodstuffs is contingent on fluid- ity of finance; abundance or scarcity of credits has exerted con- siderable influence on the distribution of staples since the war. credits from the united states, as well as the foreign investments of american nationals, tourist expenditures and immigrant remittances, have directly and indirectly facilitated the export of surplus agricultural produce from the united states, to some extent to the detriment of corresponding exports from canada, australia and argentina. public money has been used in argen- tina and australia in furtherance of the marketing of agricultural produce, and this, we may infer, to the injury of exportable produce from the united states. if surplus-producing countries employ public funds in furtherance of exports, the international movement of foodstuffs will be different from what would be expected if purely competitive relations obtain. it is difficult in surplus-producing countries to resist the political influence of agrarian blocs in their insistence on some form of relief through the use of public funds. one post-war difhculty of agriculture, more or jess general the world over, that finds expression in the food supply, has been the increased cost of labour. without entering into the reasons for this advance in wages, it is sufficient to state that in most countries, both importing and exporting, the level of wages has risen substantially above the pre-war plane. to a considerable extent also labour costs have risen, since in many directions the efficiency of labour has not increased proportionately to the increase in the wage scale. for many countries the position has been accentuated by the trend of movement of workers from country to city. enlarge- ment of wages of farm workers has resulted in increase in cost of production of farm produce. since increase in wages of industrial workers has, at least to some extent, and in many directions, resulted in notable elevation in prices of industrial goods, this has had the effect of lowering the purchasing power of agricul- tural products in terms of goods and services. the measure for each year since the war in the different producing countries of the world of the purchasing power of staple foodstuffs—for example: wheat, corn, sugar, cattle, hogs, wool and coffee— amply confirms the broad fact. only under special circumstances has the purchasing power of agricultural produce been raised relatively above the pre-war level. there is considerable read- justment in this direction to be expected the world over, since if such readjustment does not occur, this would imply a lower standard of living on the farm than in the town. ‘this readjust- ment may be expected to include, from the side of agriculture, _the elimination of submarginal areas and increase in efficiency of cultivation and management over the remainder; and, on the part of industry, increase in the efficiency of labour and improve- ment in mechanical operations, with resulting lowering of pro- duction costs. a survey of the total commerce of the world in successive years since the war shows a relative overproduction of agricul- tural produce and a relative underproduction of industrial goods, though the margin is being gradually reduced. this has had the effect of lowering the purchasing power of agricultural pro- duce in terms of industrial goods, which was relatively low at the beginning of the century and notably higher just before the war. after the war this relationship again became com- parable to that existing at the beginning of the century. 64 the food supply of the world is modified by conditions of transportation, since both fluidity and cost of movement have in- fluence on distribution and marketing. transportation has been a limiting factor in the export of grains and oil seeds from russia since the war. the railways of western europe have been largely restored to their pre-war efficiency, except in the danubian and balkan states, whose crippled facilities still impose limitations on the movement of farm produce. the effective service of rail- ways has been one of the outstanding features of the post-war situation in the united states and canada. ocean shipping rates have been low since the war, and this has facilitated move- ment to importing countries of surplus supplies from exporting countries the world over. 7 v. prospects of the near future changes in the food supply of the world will depend to some extent upon developments in industry as well as in agriculture. during the period 1915 to 1925 numerous backward countries of the world increased their manufacturing facilities and thus rendered themselves less dependent on european goods. if these new industries maintain themselves, the retardation of recovery of european industries (whose output as a whole is still considerably below normal) will be prolonged, unless new markets and a higher standard of living in the world result in a general expansion of demand for manufactured goods. a point of par- ticular importance is russia. if the present low standard of liv- ing is continued in russia, this will have an indirect effect on the food supply and manufacturing activity of europe. the degree to which goods from manufacturing industries in india, china and the british dominions are able to supplant the prod- ucts of corresponding industries in the united kingdom, is another point of importance. it is probable that the food supply of the world during the next 10 years (1926-36) will be relatively below the pre-war level and more vegetarian. it would be an error to expect the world to direct the first energies solely toward the restoration of the pre-war food supply, leaving the restoration of the stand- ard of living in the matter of other goods and services to be de- ferred. various groups of demands will compete in their claims on income, and the demand for food will not be able to secure a proportion of the income so large as to insure in the near future the restoration of the pre-war dict. the best that can be hoped for, so far as europe is concerned, is to secure a diet competent in the nutritional sense; but a cheaper diet, less diversified, and less luxurious than was the case before the war. the agricul- ture of the surplus-producing countries will necessarily have to adapt itself to these developments. we are accustomed in world trade to view manufactures from the standpoint of the international division of labour. if the food supply of the world is to be correctly appraised, 1t must be considered from the same standpoint. the world faces during the next decade the necessity of establishing a new equilibrium in the demand and supply of foodstuffs, representing a new equa- tion between effective demand and remuneratively produced supply, a revised international distribution of labour in agri- culture and manufacture, distorted, however, to an unforesee- able extent, by artificial controls, bounties and protective tariffs. since the war, europe has been financing the importation of foodstuffs largely with borrowed money, credits, tourist expend- itures and immigrant remittances. before the war, russia was a borrowing country; but, with russia excluded, europe was a lending continent. outside of the united kingdom, which re- mains a lending country, europe, as a result of the war, has become a borrowing continent. with each year since the war, european governments, industries and even agricultures con- tract new loans at relatively high interest rates. disregarding entirely european payments of war debts to the united states, the service charges on post-war european borrowings will repre- sent a growing burden on the continent, a burden certain to be reflected in international trade, since the difficulties of transfers of international payments find their ultimate expression in the commerce of goods and services. food supply ultimately, europe must pay her international obligations with goods and services; but this is not to be expected during the next five or 10 years, during which time we expect adjustments to occur largely through the invisible items in the international accounts. but the time approaches when europe must raise a larger proportion of her food supply or pay fora larger proportion of it with goods and services. the necessary adjustments con- 1810 1925 lu ouay argentina 58% courtesy of weddell & co. ltd. fic. 3.—world exports of refrigerated beef, mutton and lamb. the increasing importance of south america in the supply of meat products is clearly seen by these diagrams, in which exports for 1910 and 1925 from each country are shown as a percentage of total world exports. (see table.) the chief importing country is great britain, which takes some 60 % of the world’s available supply. tingent on these developments form part of the new equilibrium between demand and supply of foodstuffs toward which the world is inevitably trending. (a, bt.) bibliography.—international labour office, enquete sur la production (1923); international institute of agriculture, jter- national yearbook of agricultural statistics (annual); united states department of agriculture, agricultural yearbook (annual); see also reports of ministry of agriculture of great britain, etc. the accompanying diagrams and tables illustrate the principal sources of food supplies, except wheat, maize, oats, rye and barley, which are dealt with in the article on grain production and trade, during the period 1910 to 1925. sugar.—the production of both cane and beet sugar greatly in- creased after 1910. the following table gives the exports of sugar in short tons from the chief exporting countries for the average of the period 1909-13 and for 1922. cane sugar average 1909-13 2,009,899 1,412,555 226,255 38,284 146,736 179,432 92,351 country 1922 5,581,37 1,582,691 322,692 277,993 302,447 399,112 189,195 cuba . ; dutch east indies mauritius brazil . peru. ; ; philippine islands dominican republic beet sugar 873,161 818,830 germany. austria-hungary czechoslovakia . netherlands russia . poland belgium 13,915 e 350,366 200,490 | 219,477 293,514 7 es 65,344 154.476 177,594 the production of sugar in the chief producing countries for each year from igil0-i to 1924-3 is shown in the chart below, based on figures given in the international year-book of agricultural statistics, the total world production in the pre-war period and in 1924-5 was: beet sugar cane sugar average 1909-10 to quintals quintals 1913-4. e- ~» 83,990,000 95,668,000 1924-5 . : 81,690,000 150,845,000 meat products,—the table below shows world exports of refriger- ated beef, mutton and lamb for 1910, 1913, 1917 and for each year from 1920 to 1925. of particular interest is the great increase in exports owing to war demands, the growing importance of argentina, foot and mouth disease—football, association sy non a zt w+ eete peppy reer eet petty re eat tt ag lll lt awe ae pet tt waaay wt | ae ia ezaazizqgagggggg aagg sass oo, qanne nuns nnn y sci inn cnn mw sssses aggy 2 o 2 2 wd s i o »~4 2 wn 1916 1917 1918 t9(9 192 yeor ending june fic. 4.—exports of pork and pork products from the united states. the united states is the source of over two-thirds of the world supply of pork products. this diagram shows the export of fresh, canned and pickled pork, cured hams and shoulders, bacon, lard and neutral lard for each year from 1909-10 to 1924-5. the chief importing countries are the united kingdom and germany. o o ls 7) > os 7) ay wo s > — wn brazil and uruguay, and the decline in exports from the united states. exports from the chief exporting countries are shown in fig. 3 as a percentage of the total. the importance of the united states as a source of pork products is clearly shown in fig. 4. 65 foot and mouth disease: sce veterinary science.",
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