§ 6. Mr. de Freitasasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether his attention has been called to the results of the recent survey made by the National Milk Publicity Council, a body consisting of two of the interested organisations to which he has circulated his revised proposals for regulations, on the consumers' knowledge of the ingredients of substances sold to them under the designation ice cream; and whether he will take the results of this survey into account when he is drawing up new regulations on the sale of ice cream in this country.
§ Mr. John HareYes, Sir.
§ Mr. de FreitasCan the Minister give an assurance that his regulations will protect the consumer by preventing the public sale of substances described as ice cream which contain neither cream nor any milk product?
§ Mr. HareAs I think the hon. Member knows, the regulations which I have in mind will enable the housewife to know what she is buying.
§ Mr. de FreitasIs it not a fact that under the draft regulations this information will be in very small print indeed? Would it not be better for the Minister to make it quite clear that nobody should sell a substance which is known as ice cream but which contains no milk product whatever?
§ Mr. HareThe hon. Member had better see the text of the regulations before he criticises the size of the lettering.
7. Mr. Gresham Cookeasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, in connection with his proposal that his new regulations relating to ice cream will provide that any article described as ice cream must bear on the package or label information as to the ingredients thereof, whether he will insist that the lettering giving the information of the ingredients will bear a reasonable proportion to the size of the lettering describing the article as ice cream.
§ Mr. John HareYes, Sir.
Mr. Gresham CookeWill my right hon. Friend consider the suggestion that the lettering on the packets concerning ingredients, whether dairy fat, vegetable oil, groundnuts or anything else, should be about one-quarter of the size of the main lettering on the container?
§ Mr. HareI assure my hon. Friend that I have every intention of ensuring that the lettering is legible.
§ Mr. LagdenWill my right hon. Friend also consider the possibility of having the address of the manufacturer plainly shown? In some circumstances, this would be a tremendous advantage to the purchaser.
§ Mr. WilleyBefore the right hon. Gentleman lays the regulations, will he satisfy himself that he has gone as far as is reasonably practicable to meet the technical points raised by the Milk Marketing Board?
§ Mr. HareAs the hon. Gentleman knows, I have given great thought to this matter. Naturally, I considered all the representations which have been made to me and I have considered the views of the House. I assure the hon. Gentleman that I have given consideration, and I hope that my regulations will satisfy him.