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Housewives save with margarine

Broadcast Date: Dec. 14, 1948

Household butter budgets could soon be cut in half now that the Supreme Court of Canada has lifted a ban on margarine. Manufacturers can legally produce butter substitutes and grocers can stock their shelves with margarine as of Dec. 14, 1948. Britain's colony Newfoundland now sells margarine for 35 cents a pound, nearly half of what a stick of butter goes for. But farmers aren't as thrilled as housewives. In today's CBC Radio broadcast, dairyman Erle Kitchen explains why.

Kitchen is national secretary of the Dairy Farmers of Canada. He worries that if families begin using margarine instead of butter, farmers will raise fewer cows and there will be less milk.
To make sure no one mistakes margarine for butter, margarine must be sold colourless in a plastic sack. Once at home, housewives press a tab on the sack to release the separately-packaged yellow dye into the white margarine. It takes 20 minutes of squishing to mix in the dye.

Producers say Canadian margarine will be fortified with vitamin A like in the United States where the butter substitute's sale hasn't been illegal. But margarine machines are still not ready for production so the advice to housewives is "Ladies, don't buy any new hats with the money you're going to save" yet.

Housewives save with margarine

• Quebec didn't lift its ban on the sale of margarine until 1961 and still outlaws yellow margarine. Ontario lifted its ban on butter-coloured margarine in 1994.
• Margarine is a butter substitute made from vegetable oil or animal fat mixed with milk. Manufacturers often add vitamins A and D, yellow colouring and salt. It is safely stored in the refrigerator for eight months.
• Margarine is spreadable when cold because it's made with vegetable oil, unlike butter that consists mainly of cream.

• The word margarine comes from the French margarique, derived from the Greek word margaron meaning pearl.
• French chemist Hippolyte Mège-Mouriès invented margarine in the late 1860s by churning ox fat with cream. Americans simplified his method by using butter-making equipment. They churned melted fat, milk and salt and then chilled the mixture to solidify into a plastic-like consistency for kneading.

• In 1878, Unilever began producing margarine in Europe. European producers originally used whale oil, rarely employed by North Amercian manufacturers.
• In the United States the sale of margarine was not illegal. American margarine consumption sharply increased with the First World War's butter shortage and increased cost of living.
• Starting in the 1930s, U.S. producers made margarine with domestic cottonseed and soybean oil.

• In 1960, the St. John's, Newfoundland Telegram reported that Quebecers with arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) smuggled vegetable-based margarine across the border because it was better for their health.
• Manitoba restaurants served margarine in triangular patties so customers didn't confuse them with square butter patties, to comply with a 1961 provinical regulation.

• In the 1970s another argument against the use of margarine emerged. Health reports found a link between heart disease and trans fatty acids — unnatural substances formed during the hydrogenating of vegetable oil that turn margarine to a solid.
• Margarine used to be called oleomargarine, especially in the United States. Oleo refers to oil.

Also on December 14:
• 1929: The Federal Government transfers control of natural resources to Alberta and Manitoba.
• 1943: Captain Paul Triquet of the Royal 22nd Regiment leads his company in the capture of Casa Berardi in Italy. For his courage, Triquet was awarded the Victoria Cross in 1944.
• 1956: John Diefenbaker is elected leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. He leads the Tories to an election win in 1957 remaining prime minister until 1963.

Housewives save with margarine

Medium: Radio

Program: CBC News Roundup

Broadcast Date: Dec. 14, 1948

Guest(s): Erle Kitchen

Host: Bill Reid
Interviewer: Bill Beatty
Reporter: Warren Baldwin, Dave Price

Duration: 7:21

Last updated:
Dec. 14, 2007