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         B.      THE, GERMAN FOOD AND AGRICULTURAL POSITION
 
    1. Except in meats (rations for which were reduced 20 percent in june 1941) German food
rations have remained about unchanged since early spring 1940. In order to assure most efficient
use of available supplies, the German rationing system makes allowance for the differing
requirements of various classes of consumers. They are largest for soldiers in active combat, and
are larger for workers performing arduous labor than for other civilians.
    2. Present German food rations can be most readily compared with  pre-war consumption in
the three important food groups-flour, meats, and fats and oils. For front-line soldiers, the rations
of each of these items are somewhat larger than in 1936-37. For civilians as a whole, average
flour rations have been reduced by 6 percent, fats and oils by 33 percent, and meats by 46 percent.
The June 1941 cut in meat rations was announced as temporary. Restoration of the pre-June
allotments would still leave consumer rations one-third below pre-war. German potato production
is far in excess of human requirements, even though this consumptionswhich is not rarioned has
increased by at least 50 percent for the old Reich as a whole. These increased shipments have
further aggravated a transport situation which has, from time to time, created acute shortages of
potatoes in some districts.
    3. in terms of caloric, or energy, intake, present German diets :appear adequate or nearly so; in
terms of longer-run nutritional requirements for vitamins and calcium, diets are deficient. Besides
lowering resistance to infection, these shortages will, if they persist, result eventually in deficiency
diseases such as pellagra and rickets.
    4. Without drawing on the Ukraine and without significant encroachment on existing stocks,
Germany can maintain present flour rations during the crop year 1941-42. The 1941 grain crop
appears to have been normal in Germany, and larger exports than in 1940-41 can be expected
from the Danubian countries.
    5. Present low meat rations can be maintained in Germany during the crop year 1941-42
without reduction in German livestock herds. This will involve, however, continued drastic
restrictions on meat