UK National Dried Milk tin from WW2
Image details
Contributor:
Tony Smith / Alamy Stock PhotoImage ID:
F7DC7PFile size:
28.5 MB (914.8 KB Compressed download)Releases:
Model - no | Property - noDo I need a release?Dimensions:
2488 x 4000 px | 21.1 x 33.9 cm | 8.3 x 13.3 inches | 300dpiDate taken:
28 November 2015Location:
England, UKMore information:
National Dried Milk was a roller-dried powdered, full-cream milk fortified with vitamin D. It was intended for feeding to children at a time of milk rationing. It was also convenient for mothers. It freed them up from breast-feeding at a time when women had to go man the factories for the war effort. At first, it was available only to children under 1 year of age; later 2 years. The National Dried Milk scheme had been announced by the fall of 1940; by then, physicians were debating how it should best be served to infants and whether full-cream was indeed the best for them. The storage and distribution of National Dried Milk across the country was contracted out to a company called SPD. You needed ration coupons to purchase it with, and could only get it at chemists (i.e. pharmacies.) There was a proviso, though, which housewives learned to watch for: once the tin at the store was past the "Not for consumption after..." date, it could be sold to anyone, off-ration, providing a windfall bonanza to the lucky shopper.