asked the Minister for Agriculture if he is aware that owing to the prevailing shortage of feeding stuffs many components of inferior quality are being used to create bulk, and whether, to guard against unscrupulous advantage being taken of this situation, he will arrange that, in future, where feeding stuffs made of more than one substance or material are being offered for sale, it will be compulsory to declare the names and proportions of the various mixtures in the bulk.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Inferior Feeding Stuffs.
I am aware that recently, as feeding stuffs generally have become scarce, compounds of inferior quality have been placed on the market. The matter is receiving attention with a view to devising an effective method of controlling the composition of these mixtures.
Does the Minister understand that I am not referring to compounds which have to come under the Food and Fertilisers Act, the ingredients of which have to be declared? I am talking about foodstuffs that are merely mixed and which are excluded from the provisions of that Act. At the present time I am aware, and I would like to know if the Minister is aware, that very inferior stuffs of all kinds have been swept up and are being sold at very high prices and the people have no idea as to what these mixtures contain. Would it not be right that the person selling should have to declare the proportion of each ingredient in these mixtures?
The Deputy is right. As the law stands, there is no obligation to declare what is in these mixtures, except that the purchaser can demand an analysis, which is a different matter.
Is the Minister aware that the cereal millers of this country took delivery of large quantities of beet sugar pulp for which they paid about 10/- per cwt., and that they ground that up and put it into the maize meal mixture, which they proceeded to sell for 20/-?
I do not think that is correct.
Is it not a fact that these inferior feeding stuffs are being used and sold, and is it not a scandal that that should be allowed to happen?
Has the Minister yet investigated the question of supplies?
Yes, I have, and the Minister for Supplies is dealing with that.
Is the Minister aware that pigs have died as a result of these bad feeding stuffs?
No. We have been trying to deal with this matter, but it is a difficult matter to deal with legally. We tried to deal with the matter under the Cereals Act, but it was never effective because, although you may prove, by chemical analysis, that there is a certain amount of oat or wheat hulling in the mixture, it is very difficult to arrive at an approximate percentage in the mixture.
I am sure the Minister is aware that there is a big difference between a mixture of home-grown cereals and imported American meal as compared with a mixture of home-grown beet pulp, and that it is far easier to differentiate in the one case than in the other?
Yes, but it is very hard to give an approximate percentage in the mixture.