BLENDED BUTTER

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 120, 23 May 1930, Page 3

BLENDED BUTTER

STRIKING LONDON TESTS

PUBLIC MISLED

tinder the supervision of Dame Beatrix .Lyall, butter tests have been carried out in London to determine the extent to which blended butter is masquerading as English. • "The results,"'Dame Beatrix stated, when the trials had been' completed, "would have astonished even those well aware that the sale of blended butters in the guise of English is.widespread in England." , The tests were carried out by parties of women organised by the Butter Consumers' Vigilance Committee. AH parts of London were visited, from Wood Green to Streatham, the ultimate object being- to provide evidence in support of the movement by Empire and Home butter * producers to stop the sale of blended butters, predominantly foreign, under wrappers which suggest to the purchaser that the contents are English. Discussing the results, Dame Beatrix Lyall, who was formerly a member of the Appeal Tribunal under the Profiteering Act, said: "It is apparent that all over London the public are1 purchasing blended butters in the belief that brand names and addresses associated with famous dairying centres, which are a feature of the wrappers, are meant to imply that the butter is English. Even, worse is the fact that retailers are freely giving oral guarantees that the produce is English. Unfortunately it is not possible to secure convictions under the Merchandise Marks Act for oral misdescription. ' ORAL GUARANTEE. "lii every case the butter was purchased under oral guarantee that it was English, but it is remarkable that only about 10 per cent, of the packets bore a printed guarantee of English origin. The majority of the purchases were those of butters that the Butter Consumers' Vigilance Committee has good reason to believe are-blended, and in some cases they were admitted by the packers to be blended. Yet they are still'sold to the public as English. '.'I was shocked to find that the salesmen, of mauj' firms'.; of-tho highest reputiM arc guaranteeing" admittedly blended butters to be 'Pure English.' It is only fair to say that in some'of these eases the management, when challenged, immediately repudiated the statements of tho salesmen. "So widespread is the sale, as genuine English, of "oiiei well-known blend that I can only assume that many of the grocers simply do not know what they are selling. "The members of the parties are amazed at the conditions, they discovered, particularly those relating to price. To show how the, housewife is being induced to pay far more than she would pay if she knew'the truth, I need only mention that whereas straight Empire, butter was being sold at Is 4d to Is 7d a pound, the blended product ranged from Is 8d to 2s 4d a pound. • In one shop a well-known blend which sells'elsewhere at Is lOd was priced at ,2s 4d a pound."