Food, Nutrition, and Chemistry
If, as President Kennedy once said, "The war against hunger is truly mankind's war of liberation," then, despite all our efforts and advances, we remain in bondage. And if, as Groucho Marx once said, "Mustard is no good without roast beef," one wonders why in America, where both are in abundance and where consumer awareness never has been higher, we have been dubbed by experts the most malnourished nation in the world. Demographers tell us there are about 4.0 billion persons on the earth, and that 200,000 more are added each day. They also tell us that 10,000 persons die from starvation each day, that half a million more are slowly and painfully starving, that another half million are undernourished, and that an additional billion are malnourished. Several reports indicate that the world supply of food grains would last between 20 and 30 days a t present rates of consumption. If all food supplies were divided equally around the world, we all would be hungry. The average diet in developing nations consists of about 400 pounds of food per year from all sources; in the United States it is about 2,000 pounds per year from all sources. Estimates are that the typical diet of a U S . citizen in 1974 would feed 70 Chinese. A world-wide food crisis, such as that in 1972, can be caused by as little as a three percent difference in food and feed grain production. In 197.1 the world produced about 903 million metric tons of food and feed grains, hut in 1972 this figure dropped to 878 million metric tons. The difference between 1971 and 1972 was 25 million metric tons or three percent. The crisis resulted from demand brought about by increased purchasing power, rising population and erratic weather conditions. A simple incident -a five day relay in obtaining gasoline to run pumps to water newly seeded fields-recently reduced the estimated production of wheat in India by one million metric tons. In the face of all this, biological economists tell us that if we could improve world crop yields to those currently being achieved in western countries, there would be no world f w d shortage. For example, if the highest current yields of wheat and rice were achieved universally on that 24 percent of the world's cultivated surface now committed to these grains, we could feed 15 billion people. And, if the known genetic reserves of nature, as presently understood, were fully exploited in breeding new varieties of grain-bearing plants, it would be possible to produce enough cereals to feed a population of 20 billion. These estimates are backed by convincing arguments based on increases in production brought about by consistent use of modem agricultural techniques [K. Hanson, "Future Economics of Industrial Innovation," in Chemistry and the Needs of Societv hv The Chemical Society, " oublished . London, l9741. Even if modem aaricultural techniques could be instituted on a large enoigh fraction of the grain farms in developing countries to increase productivity to a level where all could be fed, there would remain the critical problems of improving the distribution of food and reducing the amount wasted. It is estimated, for example, that approximately 25 percent of world food never is used be-
Ieditorially speaking
cause of spoilage, much of which can be prevented by known technology. The message in all this would appear to be three-fold: First, we have it in our power as a world community to eliminate hunger and starvation, but to do so we must look at the food problem from all sides-production, processing, marketing, exporting, importing and maintaining safe reserve levels. Second, food should he recognized as a major world currency, and one that American agriculture, with help and understanding from the American public, has the potential to generate in quantities sufficient to meet needs a t home and abroad. However, if we are to trade in amounts that can help nations such as Russia, with its 300 million people, and China, with its 800 million, we shall have to double the productivity of our farms in the next few years. At the same time, the American people will have to reduce substantially their food input and the amount they waste. Third, chemistry and chemists he much involved in anv in food - ~ -will - ~ - imorovement . production, distribution, and preservation. Agricultural chemicals-fertilizers. . nesticides. herbicides. and funaici. d e k h a v e played major roles in the almost 400 percent increase in yields of corn in the U S . over the past forty years, and in the substantial hut less dramatic increases in yields of cotton, tomatoes, potatoes, and many other crops. Without continued improvement in these chemical products and the development of plant-growth regulators, soil conditioners, and other aids to the health of farm crops and farm animals, and without the continuation and improvement of additives for food preservation, we cannot hope to make any headway in eliminating starvation and hunger. While the possible adverse effect of agricultural chemicals or food additives on humans must be a constant consideration, overly conservative restrictions on the use of these substances can onlyadd to the numbers dying of starvation. Within the United States we also have the wherewithal to overcome our massive malnutrition. Wholesome foods, providing needed nutrients are available year around. We have an incredible variety of food products, designed by a food industry possessing great skill in processing and marketing. We have food stamp programs for the poor, food assistance programs for the elderly, school lunch programs that reach 8.2 million poor children. Nutritional labeling is required by law. Consumer awareness is at an all-time high. Yet our people eat many times what they need, and dearly love their food swimming in fat, rolled in sugar or covered with salt. The aifficulty is not so much ignorance of what constitutes good nutrition as an addiction to eating tasty dishes and snacks. Perhaps we need a high tax on junk food. The world food prohlem is at least as critical as the world energy problem, and the two are, of course, interlocking a t all stages of food production, processing and distribution. But American agriculture, with help from chemistry, well might be the lever needed to start the wheel of world-wide economic recovery, and to renew in earnest the war on hunger. ~
~
~
~
Volume 52, Number 3. March 1975
/
137
