210 CONSUMPTION 



however, with the growing shortage and rising prices of animal 

 fats, vegetable oils have come to be used more and more exten- 

 sively as the basic materials, 1 and it is now possible to manufacture 

 a good commercial grade of margarine without any materials of 

 animal origin whatsoever. 2 Improvements in processes and in 

 factory plant and hygiene have been so extensive in recent years 

 that a great variety of fats and oils, formerly almost unknown or 

 used exclusively for industrial purposes are now employed success- 

 fully in the manufacture of perfectly edible brands of margarine. 

 Since the outbreak of the war the increase in the consumption of 

 margarine in the United Kingdom has been so great that this class 

 of products bids fair to claim an equal place with butter in the total 

 quantities consumed. 3 So far as margarine is manufactured from 

 materials of animal origin such as oleo, lard, milk and cream, it 

 simply results in the conversion into a more palatable and ser- 

 viceable form products that would in any case be consumed as 

 human food sooner or later for the most part 4 ; and in these 

 circumstances margarine production does very little towards 

 relieving the pressure of consumption upon the world's resources 

 in animal foodstuffs it may even increase the pressure by pro- 

 moting an increase in the general consumption of animal fats in 

 that special manufactured form. Owing, however, to the recent 

 extensive substitution of vegetable oils for animal fats, the bulk 

 of the margarine now consumed in Europe represents products of 

 the vegetable kingdom converted directly into human food, without 

 the costly intervention of animals, necessary for butter production. 8 

 The production of butter throughout any region, and, indeed, 

 throughout the agricultural world, is subject to competition from 

 two main sources ; first, from all other forms of agriculture affect- 

 ing the dairy industry; and second, within the dairy industry, 



1 See U.S. Daily Commerce Report Oct. 25th 1912 in which the high per 

 capita production and consumption of margarine in Denmark is noted and 

 where it is stated that while in 1908 70% of the oils used were of animal 

 origin and 30% per cent vegetable, by 1912 these figures were reversed. 



3 The following list of vegetable oils used for margarine manufacture has 

 been given : Coconut oil, palm-kernel oil, cotton-seed oil, ground-nut oil, 

 soya bean oil, sesame oil, kopok, maize and wheat oil. Thorpe's Dictionary 

 of Chemistry gives the following standard recipe for margarine : 85 parts 

 oils (animal or vegetable) -j- 30 parts milk, yielding 100 parts margarine, 15 

 parts of water being eliminated in the process of manufacture. 



3 The quantity of margarine manufactured in the United Kingdom early 

 in 1918 has been estimated at 5,000 tons weekly, or at the rate of over 250,000 

 tons per annum. The output increased steadily during the year as shown by 

 later figures. The total pre-war consumption of butter in the United King- 

 dom was about 325,000 tons. 



4 Certain materials of animal origin sometimes used for margarine manu- 

 facture such as skim-milk and tallow, might not otherwise be consumed as 

 human food, and in this direction there is thus an economy of resources. 



6 The substitution of vegetable for animal oils in the manufacture of mar- 

 garine constitutes a further relief to the agricultural resources in the temperate 

 regions, owing to the fact that the former are mainly of tropical origin. See 

 Part I. Chap. v. 



