history of meals for millions, soy, and freedom from ... - SoyInfo Center

“‘It was motivated’ he said ‘by antiquated ideas, by
wrong economics...’
“Dr. Henry Borsook, stressing this point further
explained:
“‘We know from proved scientific evidence that certain
mixtures of vegetable proteins can do just as well
nutritionally as animal proteins and we know the reason
why. Animal protein is too expensive. A cow or a hog
converts only about three percent of its feed into human
food...’”
“‘Vegetable proteins’ Dr. Borsook emphasised ‘are the
cheapest in land, human labour and materials. There are vast
unused reserves of human food in vegetable proteins,
especially those in industrial by-products.’”
Incidentally, Dr. Henry Borsook is not alone in this
view. This same view is shared by Dr. Moises Behar,
Director of the Institute of Nutrition, Central America and
Panama, among others. The thesis that animal protein is not
essential for human nutrition because by the scientific
mixing of various foods it is possible to produce a kind of
vegetable “meat” is indeed heartening news for Buddhists
especially who by reasons of religious persuasion are
enjoined to abstain from killing animals for food or other
purposes.”
“It is noteworthy that while soyabean meal has been in
use as a human food for quite some time, in regard to
peanut press-cake, the W.H.O. Protein Advisory Group has
recently concluded that solvent extracted groundnut flour
can be safely used in feeding children, provided that
solvents of known characteristics are utilized and
controlled. We would like to make the observation that we
should not stop with growing peanut and gingelly alone. It
will be well to consider growing soybean in Ceylon which
has experimentally proved feasible in certain parts of the
country. In terms of vegetable protein it gives the highest
yield. IT is also worth reflecting that it is a crop that has
retained its place in the food economy of China for nearly
6,000 years.
“A step forward:
“In conclusion it may be pointed out that multi-purpose
food is a product that has been universally used. From 1946
till to-date, approximately 13 million pounds of this
“wonder food” have been introduced through voluntary
agencies to medical, health, and welfare authorities in 129
countries and territories.
“All the conditions requiring the production of MPF in
Ceylon are now present. We have malnutrition and undernutrition
of a considerable scale. We have a fair supply of
one product, namely, coconut, that can form the base of
such a product. The know-how and the technology also can
be had, if needed. NPF has experimentally proved as a mean
of reducing rice-intake, not only without ill-effects, but with
nutritional benefits. The sooner MPF is popularised in
Ceylon, the better it will be for the people’s welfare.”
MEALS FOR MILLIONS, SOY, AND FREEDOM FROM HUNGER 78
© Copyright Soyinfo Center 2011
Address: Honorary Secretary, National Development
Enquiry, All Ceylon Buddhist Congress.
192. McGovern, George S. 1964. War against want:
America’s Food for Peace program. New York, NY: Walker
and Company. xix + 148 p. Forward by President Lyndon B.
Johnson. Illust. No index. 21 cm.
• Summary: This good history and analysis of the U.S.
Food for Peace Program (Public Law 480) is greatly
weakened by lack of an index.
Contents: Prologue. Acknowledgments. 1. The
challenge of hunger. 2. Tools for the attack. Serving the
Food for Peace table. 4. Food: Instrument of economic
development. 5. Alianza para el Progreso (Alliance for
Progress, proposed by President Kennedy on 13 March
1961). 6. Food and the India way. 7. Freedom from hunger.
8. Victory in the war against want. Appendix I: The Food
for Peace Program. Appendix II: A partial list of voluntary
participants in the Food for Peace program.
The Food for Peace program began in 1954. Senator
McGovern was born in 1922. On 16 Dec. 1960 Presidentelect
Kennedy asked him to serve as director of a newly
proposed White House Office of Food for Peace. In the
opening hours of his administration, on 24 Jan. 1961,
President Kennedy issued an Executive Order creating the
Office of Food for Peace; Senator McGovern was its first
director.
Chapter 2 includes a history of U.S. relief feeding
programs, the work of Herbert Hoover, and the Lend Lease
Act of March 1941 (in which the USA procured vast
quantities of food for our fighting overseas Allies such as
Britain and the USSR), and the Marshall Plan (which sent
$13,000 million in American resources into Western Europe
over 4 years). But after the Korean Conflict (1950-1953)
farm surpluses began to accumulate in America at the same
time there were chronic food shortages in many parts of the
world. So in 1954 Congress enacted legislation designed to
utilize U.S. food surpluses in less-developed countries.
“This was the very important Agricultural Trade
Development and Assistance Act of 1954, Public Law 480.
Known around the world as ‘PL 480’ it was an ingenious
combination of self-interest and idealism.”
Title I of PL 480 consists of foreign currency sales.
Title II is outright grants of food in times of emergency or
disaster. Title III authorizes distribution abroad of surplus
food by private voluntary agencies, such as CARE and
many church-connected agencies. In 1959 a new provision
was added to PL 480–the extension of long-term credit at
low interest rates on dollar sales of surplus food and fiber.
The total of U.S. food assistance since 1948 is over $20,000
million.
Chapter 7, titled “Freedom from hunger,” focuses on
FAO (The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations) and its forerunners. FAO was born out of the Hot