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148
All these eight offenders were prosecuted, and penalties imposed varying
from £5 to ten shillings.
Of the remaining 227 samples of butter taken elsewhere, in 5 cases,
or 2.2 per cent., margarine had been served in substitution for butter. No
other form of butter sophistication was reported during the year.
BUTTER AND MARGARINE ACT, 1907.
(7 Edw. VII., Ch. 21).
Shortly after the introduction of the so-called "milk-blended butter,"
about the year 1900, it became apparent that existing legislation did not afford
sufficient protection to the public from what one witness, before the Select
Committee on the Butter Trade, described as having been originally "solely a
fraud, nothing but a fraud, and a deception with the intention of passing off
something which was not what it pretended to be."
The manufacturers of this article—which is really a debased butter—
succeeded in eventually evading the provisions of the Sale of Food and Drugs
Act. It is true that proceedings might have been taken under the " Merchandise
Marks Acts," but the enforcement of these Acts rests with individuals
and not with any public authority.
To those not familiar with the nature of this article it may be useful
if I quote here the notes made by me on the subject when dealing with the
proceedings of the Select Committee's enquiry on the Butter Trade in the
Annual Report for 1906.
"One of the most important features of the enquiry was the evidence
"taken in relation to so-called "milk-blended butter."
"This is a form of sophistication that I have already directed attention
to in my Annual Reports for the years 1903-4-5.
"It was ascertained in the course of the enquiry that this so-called
"butter is made in this country by five firms, and it was also given in
"evidence that it is composed of butter and milk, with the addition of
"boracic acid, that have been mixed together by machinery, one firm
"alone making from 80 to 85 tons a week.
"Upon its first introduction, some years ago, it was sold as butter,
"such description being, of course, a fraudulent one. This abuse was