Spreading margarine on a piece of bread in Wisconsin can cost a restaurant owner up to $500 and three months in jail. The very old old law requires that margarine only be substituted for butter at a customers request and while it’s rarely enforced it can still cost anywhere from $100 to $500 when action is taken and that’s why 12 lawmakers are attempting to have the law repealed.
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel the law is based in the late 1800s when margarine scams saw the substance being colored to look like butter creating an “oleo black market.”
On a more personal level the butter law supports dairy farmers in the state, Wisconsin is the No. 2 butter producer in the United States.
While the margarine ban was lifted in 1967 the substitution of margarine for butter remained on the books.
Rep. Dale Kooyenga told the Sentinel it’s:
“Silly, antiquated, and anti-free market.”
Kooyenga explains that serving margarine to prisoners instead of butter would amount to 3-times savings.
One diary farmer explains that butter is only twice the price, adding:.
“Everybody should eat butter—prisoners and school children included. I’m not going to say everybody must have butter. Everybody should have a choice.”
Who knew butter could have such an impact on everyone from restaurant visitors to prisoners. Do you believe this antiquated law should be taken off the books? With Wisconsin slashing public worker wages a cheaper alternative in that state probably wouldn’t be a horrible idea.
