CAB129-53 — Page 109

Printed for the Cabinet. June 1952

CONFIDENTIAL

C. (52) 215

26th June, 1952.

CABINET

Copy No.

69

ENFORCEMENT OF FOOD CONTROLS

MEMORANDUM BY THE MINISTER OF FOOD

Enforcement of rationing and other food controls has been a necessary part of the work of the Ministry of Food ever since 1939. So long as the need for such controls remains .some provision for enforcing them is inescapable; but in view of some recent references in the Press and comments by my colleagues I have had a survey made of the enforcement work of the Department in the light of present conditions.

2. The root of the problem lies in the controls which need to be enforced. We must concentrate on getting rid of them; but while they remain they cannot be allowed to fall into disrepute or to be openly flouted. The purpose of enforcement is not to follow up every minor breach of the regulations, but to prevent.open scandal in the form of widespread and flagrant evasions.

3. The powers of Food Enforcement Inspectors which are conferred by warrants under Defence Regulation 55 AA (2) are set out in the attached appendix. The power of entry relates only to a "food undertaking," and no power is given to enter a private dwelling.

4. The main activities of Food Enforcement Inspectors are now directed against the following types of abuse:

(i) Forgery of ration documents, use of duplicate ration books and traffick- ing in coupons. A careful watch is essential, for abuses of this sort could break down rationing. In the first half of 1951 there was a wide distri- bution of forged coupons throughout the country by gypsies. In the six months ended 30th May there were 424 convictions by the Courts of abuse of ration documents.

(ii) Overcharging. In the Lancashire area, for instance, overcharging by butchers was disclosed in 80 per cent. of the investigations undertaken and the average overcharge was around 18 per cent. In all there were 2,700 convictions by the Courts of overcharging for meat in the six months ended 30th April.

(iii) Illicit slaughter of livestock, which shows no sign of slackening and represents a threat to supplies for the meat ration. Over the same period of six months 224 convictions by the Courts arose from over 400 investigations. These investigations often take much time, for the animals are slaughtered in remote places and evidence is hard to obtain.

(iv) "Spiv" trading without respect for coupons or price control. Regular trade associations insist on a reasonable enforcement pressure as a condition of their continued co-operation in working control. (v) False returns by catering establishments. Rationed food is issued to caterers according to the meals they claim to have served. A recent special check of samples in all parts of the country showed inflation of returns in 25 per cent. of cases examined. The inflation ranged up to 700 per cent., with an average of 80 per cent.

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