National household dried machine skimmed milk

The Ministry of Food was first established in the United Kingdom during the First World War and then re-established during the Second World War, after which it remained in operation until 1955. Rather than produce food, it was primarily responsible for its controlled distribution and for finding solutions for providing people with sufficient amounts of calories. The dried milk and dried eggs were part of the solution which the UK Ministry of Food came up with during the Second World War. As people were generally reluctant to use dried food in their diets, the Ministry was also responsible for promoting the products. To compensate for the lack of fresh milk and its rationing, the Ministry of Food started producing and distributing cans of ‘National Dried Milk’ in 1942. This milk was primarily intended for babies and was fortified with vitamin D. From 1944, this US-produced dried skimmed milk was distributed with the warning ‘not to be used for babies’ clearly marked on the label. During wartime, everybody was entitled to one can of dried milk every four weeks. Each can contained four pints, the equivalent of 2.3 litres of milk. Both types of powdered milk continued to be distributed well into the post-war period as food shortages remained a reality in Europe for at least a decade after the end of the Second World War.