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122
SECTION E
Inspection of Food and Supervision of Food Premises
It has been estimated that some 1,500 million people throughout
the world today suffer from chronic malnutrition, of which,
by far the largest group consists of those deficient in protein.
Malnutrition of this nature is rife in Eastern Asia. India, Central
and Southern America as well as large areas of Africa and is the
cause of high infant mortality, stunting of growth and mental
development and leads to reduced resistance to infection and
disease in child and adult alike.
World population is rising rapidly and is demanding maximum
food production not only in the fields but on the farms. Unfortunately,
the areas of greatest malnutrition are those of the
under-developed and over-populated countries where possibilities
of increased food production are remote and minimal and the
onus, therefore, of making up the world food deficiency inevitably
rests with the more developed and civilised areas of Europe and
North America. That surplus food is being produced in these
latter areas is already evident but this is being achieved rather
more by extensive use of modern technological methods such as
increased efficiency in agricultural practices, the introduction of
fertilisers, improved mechanisation, better seed varieties and education,
than by additional cultivated lands.
Stimulated by this world-wide growth in demand, food technology.
especially during the past few years, has advanced at an
extremely rapid rate and this has shown itself in the increasing use
of drugs and chemicals to match the need for bigger and better
methods of preservation of greater quantities of more varied types
of comestibles. Constant vigilance on the part of health ties
is necessary in order that these developments do not prove
detrimental to the health of the consumer.
In recent years great anxiety has been expressed in connection
with the numbers and types of chemicals entering into the
composition of food; in fact it has been estimated that the number
of substances falling within the present definition of "food additives"
notified to the Food and Drugs Administration runs into
several thousands. This was never more clearly shown than in
the meat trade, which is both the end point of a highly complex
industry and the commencement of another, equally intricate,
which involves processing, handling, storing, transporting and
marketing of the final product.