§ Captain LOSEBYasked the Food Controller whether his attention had been drawn to a prosecution at Wexford for selling suet or tallow as dripping, and in which it was contended by the defence that tallow and dripping were identical; that Sir Charles Cameron, analyst of Dublin, had certified the goods to be suet or tallow, and not dripping as popularly understood, i.e., fat derived from roasted meat; that a certificate was obtained from Somerset House defining the goods as dripping manufactured according to the Food Controller's Regulations, and upon which certificate the defendant was dismissed; whether he will indicate the particular Clause in the Defence of the Realm Act which entitles him to impose melted tallow on the public as dripping; whether, under his Regulations, any trader may melt, tallow candles and sell them as dripping; and whether, subject to certain specified limits of free fatty acids and water, any trader many now sell tallow as dripping at top controlled price?
Mr. ROBERTSThe attention of the Food Controller had not previously been drawn to the prosecution to which the hon. and gallant Member refers. I am, however, informed that the point at issue arose from the fact that Sir Charles Cameron has always held that the term "dripping" should be applied only to the fat actually obtained from roasted meat, whereas it has been the custom for many years in England and Scotland to render and sell as dripping sweet fats from slaughterhouses and butchers'shops. The term "tallow" is the correct legal description of all rendered beef and mutton fats, including the true dripping, 1591W but is in common speech used only to refer to "technical"tallow unfit for human consumption. The Ministry of Food by the Home Melt Tallow and Grease (Maximum Prices) Order, 1918, fixed a standard of quality for edible bone-fat or dripping, and enacted that any bone-fat or dripping not complying with the requirements of the Order should be deemed to be technical tallow and sold only as such. The answer to the fifth and sixth parts of the question is, therefore, in the negative.