The survivors didn't mind the soaked grain distributed by the Officials. Everyone knew that it was already good to receive any grain from the Officials at this time.
For these soaked grains, the Officials also provided a way to process them. They were to be ground into powder and then slow cooked until dry, into a form of fried flour, this way the preservation period of the grain could be extended.
Had this been in the past, once the machines were running, around a dozen people, including the transporters, could have handled this entire process.
But now, without the aid of machinery, every step, from transportation, crushing to drying, packing, required significant manual labor.
Especially the drying step, tasting to see if it's done. If that was all there was to it, it would be fine. But, if some were secretly stashed away during the packaging process, the actual loss could be substantial.
