‘Arán an Lae Amáireach’: Flour Extraction and Fortification in Emergency Ireland, 1939–1948

Abstract

During the Second World War (1939–1945), the rate that flour was extracted from wheat to make wholemeal bread was continuously increased to save wheat supplies in Ireland. Once the dangers of eating this bread became known, doctors and scientists advocated that extraction rates be reduced alongside the fortification of flour to counteract the potential side effects. Despite several calls for action, no changes were made until connections were drawn between calcium deficiency, rickets and tuberculosis (TB). This article uses flour as a case study to understand the complexities of introducing health policy at critical periods, such as war. While interest in public health was raised due to the war, the war also ensured that attempts at sound food policies were limited. Higher extraction rates temporarily relieved wartime pressures, but this had severe health effects on the wider population. By mapping flour extraction rates alongside the incidence of disease, this article argues that political short-terminism exacerbated public health problems as symbolised in the black loaf. It was the medical profession that managed to successfully encourage action on the sole basis that flour extraction had created a health crisis among children and the poor.