§ Mr. Basil Nieldasked the Minister of Food what quantity of bacon was exported from this country to Portugal during 1947.
§ Dr. SummerskillNone, Sir.
§ 57. Mr. Wyattasked the Minister of Food why, in view of the small allowance to individual citizens, allocations of bacon are given to cafés, restaurants and canteens.
§ Dr. SummerskillSince rationing was introduced, the practice has been to provide allowances to catering establishments on the number of meals served of rationed foods, including, of course, bacon, on the basis of the domestic ration. The scale of these allowances was reduced to restaurants and cafés which do not impose a maximum charge of 2s. 3d. per meal last September. We are unwilling to go beyond this to give them no bacon at all. We should still less be prepared to take away the supplies of bacon from canteens.
§ Mr. WyattIs my hon. Friend aware that, in the present great shortage of bacon, it only serves as an irritant to many workers when they go into their canteen and discover that the bacon allocation has been eaten by the management side of the factory?
§ Dr. SummerskillI can assure my hon. Friend that it would cause more irritation if some of our late-shift workers went to the canteens and found that they could not get any bacon for their well deserved breakfasts.