MARGARINE.

Otaki Mail, Volume XXVIII, 15 October 1920, Page 4

MARGARINE.

One of tlfe first results of the serious advance in the price of butter has been to direct tile thoughts of many people to the possibility of a substitute, and thence, naturally, to the use, n that capacity, of margarine. Here, hi New- Zealand, as the Christchurch •‘Press" points out, that is a foodduff of which most people have had no personal experience, but at Home, at first under the names of '‘oleomargarine” or “butterine," it has been known for more than a generation, ami during the war it came into duiost universal use, instead of butter. 1 bike the latter, it varied greatly ia (Utility, but the best brands, which md an enormous sale, are said by people who spent most of the war years in England, to be equal to good table butter. And it had the further advantage of being cheap, good mar garble being sold last year at Home for 8d per lb, while butter was costing .is (jd. Hitherto, owing to the comparative cheapness of butter there .ms been little demand for margarine m the Dominion, but now that the dairy fanners have secured a free market for their produce, and can soil iractieally ns much butter as they can mid away for half a crown a pound, •he local price has soared until butter ms become a costly item in the food oills of householders. Enfortunately. for the reasons mentioned, little margarine is made in Xew Zealand, and in- manufacture’ of a high-grade art icle is declared, by persons of experience, to be impossible until the regulations under the Sale of Pure Foods Act are altered. At present these provide that margarine includes all substances prepared or manufacture! from any form of animal fats “other •ban butter-fat or milk." or of niiiinl. mineral or “vegetable oils." 1 H--cords quoted—“other than butter-fat ir milk” —debar the manufacture of a 'irst class table margarine, and are so favourable to the dairying industry, by keeping a dangerous competitor out •f the field, as to suggest that thev ■.ere inserted for that purpose. The English Act governing this matter permits the inclusion of 10 per cent of butter-fat among the ingredients of margarine, and also the addition of (colouring matter, which is forbidden in Xew Zealand. Our contemporary contends that one of the first things which the Xew Zealand Government should do. in the interests of the public, is to bring the regulations concerning the composition of locallymade margarine into conformity with the English law on the subject. Margarine is somewhat inferior in food value anu digestibility to butter, which is one of the most nutritious and easily digested of all foods, but it is particularly wholesome, being mail* of various pure vegetable oils, “oleo.’ of which quantities are exported from Xcw Zealand, and milk or butter. Itmanufacture in Xew Zealand would bf a boon to a great many households and will, no doubt, be undertaken asoon ns the Legislature removed tin prohibition to which reference ha been made.