EAT MORE BUTTER

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 113, 14 May 1936, Page 20

EAT MORE BUTTER

CAMPAIGN IN BRITAIN. "NEW ZEALAND TAKES LEAD. DIET REFORM CRUSADE. LONDON, April 25. The recent plea of Sir John Orr, the eminent dietist., for greatly increased consumption of milk, butter, cheese, eggs, fruit and vegetables in the interests of national health, was strongly supported by economists and scientists when the Association of Scientific Workers and the engineers' study group on economics met in joint conference in London the other day. Sir John Orr himself opened the discussion on a proposed "ideal family budget," which recommends, among other foodstuffs, a weekly ration of 21b of butter and 31b of cheese for each person. The present average weekly consumption of butter in Britain is Alb per head, and of cheese 1-51 b per head. The History of Cheese. The New Zealand Dairy Board, which last year gave striking testimony to the nutritive value of butter in its pamphlet, "Butter and the Nation's Diet," is again taking advantage of the increasing public interest in matters of nutrition by issuing a companion booklot entitled "At the Sign of the Cheese."

Brightly designed and illustrated, the booklet deals concisely with the history of cheese as a food, its relation to Old English life and customs, its production in Britain, the Dominions and foreign countries, the place of cheese in the national diet (with official mcdical testimony to its high nutritive value), and recipes for its use in the home. A special chapter describes the growth of the cheese industry in New Zealand. For Teachers and Housewives. The booklet, which is the first of its kind to be published, is being issued to organisers and secretaries of the women's institutes, to the SO,OOO members of the Women's Co-operative Guild, and to nearly 3000 teachers of domestic cookery for distribution among their pupils. A total of nearly 200,000 copies will be distributed in this way. The Government, it is reported, is now seriously considering substituting butter for margarine in the rations of the Army, Navy and Air Force. Mr. W. Leach, M.P., Under-Secretary for Air in the Labour Government, the other day drew an admission in Parliament from the present Under-Secretary, Sir Philip Sassoon, that "the arrangements regarding the supply of margarine are now under review." In a statement to the Press Mr. Leach, who is a member of the Defence Estimates Committee, said: "Consultations are now going on between the chiefs of the three lighting forces, which will, I hope, shortly result in butter replacing margarine once for all in the dietary of the troops, airmen and sailors. ,The Cabinet is discussing the subject, particularly in relation to recruiting, and as the fighting forces of several foreign countries, as well as of our own Dominions, have long since included butter in their daily ration, the British Government will not be without good example to guide it." It should be added that the. wellsustained discussion in Parliament and the Press on this reform lias resulted largely from the indirect though very active efforts of the New Zealand Dairy Board. New Zealand System Defended. Press statements that the English Milk Marketing Board was adopting the Danish system of separating milk at creameries in preference to the New Zealand system of farm separation, because the Danish method "gives a better quality butter," have been corrected by Sir John Haslain, M.P., in a letter that has been widely published. The Danish system, he pointed out, was being adopted by the Jlilk Board for the sole reason that it was better suited to English conditions of winter feeding. "But surely," he continues, "this does not suggest that butter from stall-fed cows is superior to that from pasturefed cows! Scientific evidence, notably that of the report of experiments carried out under the aegis of the British Medical Research Council, shows that grass-fed butter of the Southern Hemisphere is more constant in vitamin content than North European butter owing to more favoured climatic conditions. Campaign in Yorkshire. "As to the popularity of New Zealand and other Empire butter produced on the farm separation principle, it is surely well known that in the South of England these butters enjoy an overwhelming popularity, whilst even in the North—the old-established market for Scandinavian butter —they are making rapid headway. Indeed, New Zealand has now overtaken Denmark as the largest contributor to the British market." The New Zealand Dairy Board is now conducting a sales campaign in Dewsbury, a Yorkshire woollen centre. The board's chief appeal is based on the fact that nine-tenths of New Zealand's total imports of woollen goods arc supplied by Yorkshire, her purchase of these amounting to nearly £1,000,000 annually.