asked the Minister for Agriculture if he will make an order to ensure that all factory-cured bacon shall be stamped with the grade letter showing the grade that governed the price paid to the producer.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Stamping of Factory-Cured Bacon.
25.
No; I do not think that such an order would serve any useful purpose.
Why not?
For several reasons.
I think it would serve a very useful purpose. It might act as a deterrent to bacon curers to have to grade pigs down to Grade C.
It would probably have the effect of acting as a deterrent to them to pay more than the minimum price. The bacon factory is quite at liberty to pay more, but if the price has to be marked, I think the Deputy will appreciate that the consumer would expect to get his bacon in relation to the minimum price published. Therefore, the curer could not pay more than the minimum price.
The Minister has evidently misunderstood me. I said the grade number, not the price.
That would be the same thing.
It would not.
It would have the same effect.
It would not.
Does the Minister not agree that the grade marking would prevent Grade B from being sold as Grade A bacon?
I believe it is a fact that some parts of Grade B pig may be sold as Grade A. Conversely, it is a fact that some parts of Grade A are sold as Grade B bacon. Therefore, it would be very difficult to follow this suggestion of having bacon marked Grades A, B or C, as the case might be.
The sides of bacon are sent into the shops——
That is not a question.
I am putting the question now. When the side leaves the factory and is marked and the person is charged Grade A for it, does the Minister try to tell this House that the shopkeeper will sell some of that as Grade B bacon?
No. If it is marked Grade A, naturally he will sell it as Grade A.
Would the Minister take a note of this question again and tell the House he would be prepared to do this? If he said so, it would prevent bacon curers from sending Grade B sides to the shopkeepers and charging them for Grade A bacon— the shopkeepers, in turn, charging Grade A bacon prices to the consumers and the farmers being "chiselled" by the lot? So well some Deputies may laugh.