COLORING MARGARINE.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XL, Issue 13156, 16 August 1913, Page 9

COLORING MARGARINE.

£66,000,000 A YEAR FOOD FRAUDS. LONDON, July 4. There is a certain cheerlessness m the principal English markets. It is due m part to the tightness of money, and also to tie nervousness which necessarily follows the renewal of trouble m the Balkan area. In the butter market there is little change to record. Th» price of Danish butter rose a kroner this week, and there is no appreciable fall m Australian m spite of the arrival of 23,500". boxes. Indeed, the price of choicest New South Wales has been very well maintained at from 102s, 106s, with a few selling at 108s. The better clasa Australian* butter does not at present compete with Siberian, which is m great demand at the moment. Siberian i* selling at from 96s to 98s, and, therefore, shows a good profit to the retailer at le a pound. It is a very serious rival to secondary New 'South Wales, and other Australian butters. Indeed, most of the lower-grade Australian is being cold stored. As one Tooley street dealer said this week, "It is easier to sell Australian at 108s than it is at 985." THE MARGARINeVaCTS. Apart from actual market variations, perhaps the most interesting incident m the Australian butter trade was the deputation to Mr Runciman, president of the Board of Agriculture. The deputation saw Mr Runciman m his room at the House of Commons. . It was introduced by. Mr George Reid, the High Commissioner, who briefly outlined the reforms m the margarine Acts, which the butter importers regard as essential. Among those present were Mr J. Cameron and Mr J. R. King, representing the Australian Co-operative Produce Committee; Mr A. T. Mills, Mr W. G. Lovell, of Lovell and Christinas, and Mr H. E. Davison, of Dalgety and Co., while Mr S. P. Fage, the president, represented the British Dairy Farmer*' Association. Mr King summed up the arguments of the butter trade against the illegitimate competition of marga- ■ rine. He said that he and hia friends had no fault to find with margarine as a food, but they objected strongly to it« being sold as butter or a substitute for butter. The whole trouble arose because it was; legal to color margarine, and so enable cheap restaurant keeper* and owners of boarding-houses .to use it as butter. He suggested that English legislation dhould be brought into line with that m New Zealand and Australia, where, with the exception of South Australia, artificial coloring is prohibited. ' In Canada the manufacture and sale of margarine is absolutely prohibited. In America manufacturer* have to pay special taxes. In proof of the serious competition, which is increasing every month, Mr King recalled that the imports of margarine into- Great Britain last year amounted to over 1000 tons per week, to say nothing of local manufactures of margarine. It ig estimated that the present manufactures of margarine m Great Britain are about 60,000cwt a week. Mr Mills handed Mr Runciman a striking file of advertisements 'of margarine', culled from curTent trade papers. He pointed out that m almost every, case margarine was described as "like butter;" "as good as butter," or "better than butter." In on* case margarine was advertised as coming from " Buttapat Dairies." Mr Runciman said that he was much impressed by the case which the butter importers had put before him. As Minister for Agriculture, his whole sympathies were with the butter producer, but he saw that legislation was not so easy as it seemed at first sight. In the past some of this trade legislation had had very different results to those expected by promoters. Mr Runcinura promised to confer with the Board of Trade and see what could be done, Mr Burns being charged with the administration of tJhe Margarine Acts. Mr Runciman 'said, m conclusion, that it was evident that a large and most obvious fraud was being carried o.ni at the expense of the consuming public. FOOD FRAUDS. The importance of this' matter of food frauds can be realised -from, the startling estimate that the British public is defrauded, of £66,000,000 every year through 'food faking. The estimate has been made "by the Pure Food and Health Society,' after investigations coverinjr four. years. The frauds include margarine, which is sold as butter, water m, butter, damp m salt, powdered liver in> chocolate,-" "raspberry seeds" made out ( of pinewood and added to flavored! tur-: nip m order to sell as raspberry , "jam." If ihe prevention, of coloring margarine stopped a goodly proportion of this £66,000,000 fraud, everyone would be the better. Certainly' every New South ' Wales producer will wish the present agitation all success.— Sydney Telegraph correspondent.