Vitamins in the Vittles

The word vitamins these days is in everybody's mouth, but not the vitamins themselves. U.S. workmen, as a class, do not get enough. The first hardheaded, scientific program for giving U.S. workers enough vitamins appeared in a little booklet published by the National Research Council last fortnight ( The Food and Nutrition of Industrial Workers in Wartime). The booklet would make interesting reading for two kinds of people, neither of whom sufficiently appreciates the merits of fresh fruits, meats and vegetables: housewives who pack lunch pails and the factory managers who install cafeterias. Points:

> According to a recent survey by the National Association of Manufacturers, only 41% of more than 2,000 plants have cafeterias for their employes.

> "All cafeterias, kitchens, lunch stands, etc., should be under plant management and run on a nonprofit, non-loss basis. . . . Cafeterias, rolling kitchens, or lunch stands operated by concessionaires . . . [are] generally less satisfactory than man-agement-owned cafeterias." Reason: "Candies, pies, cakes and soft drinks are apt to constitute too great a proportion of their stock."

> First essential for a company cafeteria is a well-trained dietitian. ("Very few" plants employ them.) Efficiency experts can determine the amounts of money spent in the cafeteria by each employe who lunches there; the dietitian, through shrewd marketing, can plan well-balanced menus within the price range.

> Any meal served in a plant should contribute at least one-third of the worker's daily food requirements, which are: at least one pint of milk; two helpings of potatoes; two helpings of fruit, one a citrus fruit or tomato; two vegetables, one leafy, green or yellow; one egg; one helping of meat, fish or poultry; a cereal dish (whole grain); whole-grain or enriched white bread at every meal; and butter or fortified oleomargarine.

> "The practice of serving food between meals to workers has given good results and is recommended." Snacks should in-clude milk or tomato juice, whole-wheat or enriched bread.

> If possible, workers should be encouraged to have vegetable gardens, either at home or on company-owned property.

> All food served to workers, whether in nearby hash-houses or company cafeterias, should be rigidly supervised by local health authorities.

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