asked the Minister for Agriculture if he will state (a) the manner in which home-made butter was disposed of in 1947; (b) the amount of home-made butter sold to registered buyers in creamery areas; (c) whether such butter was produced, packed and transported under the direction of inspectors of his Department; (d) whether such butter was tested or analysed by officials of his Department, and, if so, with what result; and (e) whether any of this butter became unfit for human consumption, and, if so, what amount, and how it was disposed of.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Home-Made Butter.
(a) The greater part of butter produced on farms in 1947, as in previous years, was consumed there. Surpluses of farm butter are sold (1) locally to shopkeepers and others, (2) to butter factories and other registered persons and (3) at markets to confectioners and others; (b) practically all butter factories and other registered buyers are in creamery areas and the total quantity of farm butter sold to them in 1947 was 43,064 cwts.; (c) and (d) the Department's inspectors sample butter regularly at butter factories and other registered premises, including public cold stores, and in transit, and the samples are analysed at the Department's butter testing station, Dublin, for water and salt content.
During 1947 arrangements were made by the Department with registered butter factories to supply the Butter Marketing Committee with non-creamery butter suitable for household use, to supplement the domestic ration. This butter was examined by the Department's inspectors at the factory premises; (e) the quantity of butter which was found unfit for household use during 1947 was approximately 2,000 cwts. This butter is, however, quite suitable for industrial purposes. The question of its disposal is at present under consideration.
Could the Minister give any indication of the cause of that amount of butter being found unfit for human consumption?
It was a new scheme conceived by my predecessor in office to meet an unforeseen situation arising out of the general upset occasioned by the emergency circumstances, and it is not unusual, when an entirely new scheme of this character is put on foot, that some utterly unforeseeable circumstance may give rise to a loss of this kind which ordinarily should not occur in future years.
Is it a fact that some of that country butter was put into cold storage without any treatment whatever?
I am quite satisfied that the officers of my Department and others responsible for superintending the storage of this butter exercised the usual precautions, but that they encountered conditions, in the course of settling a new scheme, with which they had not been familiar in previous years. I think it right to say that, so far as I have been able to find out to date, a scheme was propounded which depended on honest co-operation by those whom it was intended to benefit. A very small section, and they were not the producers, who were to benefit under the scheme slipped over a quick one. No ordinary vigilance could have prevented that, but ordinary vigilance in the years to come will effectively prevent the like of that being done again.
Can the Minister say if it was made a condition by the factories that the butter must be unsalted at the time they received it?
I cannot say, but if the Deputy will put down the question, I shall be glad to get the information for him.