White flour thus uses
less of the wheat for human food than Graham or whole-wheat flour.
Yet to convert all the country's wheat into Graham flour would not be
a wheat-saving measure, because it is not so well suited to our trade
conditions. Graham flour, for one thing, does not keep so well as
flour of lower extractions, as the fat in the germ may become rancid
in a comparatively short time. Flour in this country is often thirty
days or longer in transit and may be months in warehouses, stores, and
homes. A flour to be satisfactory under extreme conditions here or
for shipment abroad must keep at least six months--too long to be sure
that Graham flour will keep. In small countries like England, where
flour is used up more promptly, a high extraction is more practicable
than in the United States.
Moreover, while Graham and whole-wheat flours with their larger
quantities of mineral salts are a more desirable food for some people
than white flour, they are occasionally irritating to people with weak
digestions, so that it would be unfortunate to have only these flours
on the market.
The Food Administration, therefore, has considered that the most
effective use of our wheat could be obtained by forbidding the
manufacture of fancy flours of low extraction and making all flour
contain at least 74 per cent of the wheat. This still gives a fine
white flour that keeps well and is difficult to distinguish from that
on the market before the war.
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