FOOD CASES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23599, 7 March 1940, Page 5

FOOD CASES

FINES IN ENGLAND BUTTER FOR RESTAURANTS BLENDED WITH MARGARINE [from our own correspondent] LONDON Feb. 13 The wartime allowance per head to the public asking for butter -with meals in restaurants is a pat weighing onesixth of an ounce, and this works out at 8s per lb. The person ordering it expects the pat to be all pure butter, but apparently it is sometimes blended with margarine. The first prosecution on this charge took place at Cardiff. The Cosy Cafe (Cardiff), Limited, was fined £5 for selling butter not of value demanded by the purchaser, and a waitress was cautioned for aiding and abetting. Mr. Gerald Fox, prosecuting, said that samples of pats of butter bought by inspectors who visited the cafe contained half their weight of margarine. The Food Ministry allowed caterers onesixth of an ounce of butter a person, and the pats were allowed to be sold at a penny each, which /worked out at 8s a pound, against the" maximum retail price of Is 7d. The Family Allowance

Mr. J. Walters, defending, said that the customers had complained that butter pats were too small and margarine was added, but actually the pats were above the regulation one-sixth ounce. The fixed retail price of butter is 1 Is 7d per lb., and each member of a household is entitled to 4oz. a week. Any restaurant pat is additional. Restaurants now display printed notices stating that for all toasted goods margarine is used, but that when a roll is asked for, or bread, a pat of butter is the accompaniment. The first case to be brought under the Eggs (Maximum Prices) Order was heard at Acton, when C. F. Mutch, a caterer, was fined £5 on each of four summonses. He was also ordered to pay 2gns. costs. Warning by Magistrate

The magistrate, pointing out that as his was the first case he was being treated leniently, added that the penalty might have been £IOO and three months' detention. Any further cases would be dealt with more severely.

Mutch was summoned for failing to display conspicuously in the place of sale a complete list of all categories and descriptions of eggs with maximum prices; selling three South African eggs for 6cl when the maximum price was 5Jd; exposing eggs for sale without the requisite notice on each lot, and also without an indication of their category. In a letter Mutch had said he was too ill to deal with the. mass of correspondence "from the Food Committee."