Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor

FOOD OF MUNITION WORKERS IN GREAT BRITAINSource: Monthly Review of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Vol. 4, No. 1 (JANUARY,1917), pp. 56-57Published by: Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of LaborStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41823257 .

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56 MONTHLY REVIEW OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.

grades of labor have not yet received a substantial increase of earnings, and of taking steps to improve the position of those who hitherto may not have suffi- ciently benefited by the general upward movement.

FOOD OF MUNITION WORKERS IN GREAT BRITAIN.

Supplementing its memoranda Nos. 3 1 and 6, 2 the British Health of Munitions Workers Committee issued, in August, 1916, memo- randum No. II,3 giving the result of an investigation of workers' food and some suggestions as to dietary, by Leonard E. Hill, one of the members of the committee. Believing that it was desirable in the interest of efficiency to make an examination of the value and character* of the food consumed by munition workers and to suggest dietaries that may be expected adequately to restore expended energy, the author of this memorandum conducted an analysis of specimen meals provided for munition workers at the plarits, as well as those provided in hotels, and also of meals brought by workers from their homes. An effort was made to determine the percentage of prötein, fat, and carbohydrate in the samples and the number of calories4 furnished by each of these essentials which are required to replace the energy expended and for the repair and growth of the body. Emphasis is laid upon the value of eating fresh fruit, such as apples, oranges, and bananas, and of avoiding the highly stimulating foods and of refraining from eating between meals or at frequent intervals.

Fortunately the cheaper foods (bread, margarine, porridge, milk, herrings, cheese, beans, onions, cabbages, oranges, and the cheapest cuts of meat) provide all the requisite nourishment, and probably better health, than is derived from more highly flavored and expensive foods, which only artificially stimulate the appetite.

It is stated that about 15 per cent of the energy expended is derived from protein and about 80 per cent from fats and carbohydrates combined ; also that the energy required by a man engaged in fairly light munition work is about 3,500 calories. Where calculations are based, as they are in this memorandum, on food as eaten, the mini- mum canteen diet may be taken to be about 3,000 calories per day when balanced among the three classes of foodstuffs in the propor- tions of 100 grams each of protein and fat and 400 grams of carbo- *A digest of this memorandum appeared in the Monthly Review for May, 1916, p. 69. 2A digest of this memorandum appeared in the Monthly Review for June, 1916, p. 91. 3 Great Britain. Ministry of Munitions. Health of Munition Workers Committee.

Memorandum No. 11. Investigation of Workers' Food and Suggestions as to Dietary. A second appendix to Memorandum No. 3 (Industrial Canteens), London, August, 1916. 11 pp. 4 The calorie is the unit of energy value and is the amount of heat required to raise 1 kilograms (4| pints) of water through l6 centigrade (1.8° F.).

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MONTHLY REVIEW OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 57

hydrates. An average adult woman worker seems to require from 80 to 90 per cent of that required by men workers.

The investigation showed "that the average canteen dinner is a good one, containing, as it should, an energy value of about 1,000 calories well distributed among the amounts of protein, fat, and carbohydrates." The cost of the meals analyzed ranged from 5d. (10.1 cents) to Is. 5d. (31.5 cents). The analysis of meals brought by workers from their homes showed a range in amount of calories from 683.4 in case of a man on the night shift to 1,719 in the case of a boy 15 years of age on the night shift. As respects meals served in women's restaurants, the memorandum gives an example of a " sen- sible meal supplied at a small cost" (12.2 cents), consisting of roast mutton, boiled potatoes, cabbage, and sirup roll, and furnishing 687 calories ; and also " an example of the unsatisfying meals which pale- faced young women may often be seen consuming in popular cafés," consisting of roll, butter, milk, sugar, stewed prunes, and sirup, and furnishing only 397 calories, at a cost of 14.2 cents.

In order to afford assistance to caterers for munition workers a series of daily dietaries is included, and because of their adaptability to similar conditions of work in this country one of these menus is here reproduced:

SUGGESTED DAILY DIETARY FOR MUNITION WORKERS. [1 ounce equals approximately 28.33 grams.]

[ Weight in grams.

Article cf food. cents? Calorics. Gross.

Protein. Fat. r^sy" I

Breakfast: 2 boiled eggs 8.1 100 3 slices bread, butter, and jam 4.1 175 2 19 6 107.8 731.7 Sugar -2 10 Milk 1.0 30

Dinner: Meat pudding 10.1 120 Pudding (jam roll) 4.1 160 I 32 0 52 A 178 4 í 346 0 Potatoes 1.5 200 Cabbage 2.0 120

Tear 2 slices bread, butter, and jam 5.1 116 1 Piece cake 1.0 35 I n g 8 6 93 9 527>o Sugar -2- 10 Milk 1.0 30 j

SUP?oid meat 7.1 70 1 Cheese 2.0 35 j[ 41.5 23.1 64.2 648.0 2 slices bread and butter 4. 1 116 j) All meals 51.7

j 111.6 103.4 444.3 1 3,252.0

i This is taken from the report; the total should be 3,252.7.

5 *

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