Old law makes butter substitutes illegal in MO (St. Louis, Springfield: crime, eat)

[Anonymous Political Junky]

I found this article in the St. Louis Post and had to laugh. Thought all of you might enjoy it also.

Packing margarine could be a crime
Old law makes butter substitutes illegal

For gourmands, eating margarine is a crime against the palate.

For Missourians, it's a crime against the state.

Last week State Rep. Sarah Lampe, D-Springfield, played Santa Claus to story starved reporters across the region with her startling announcement that margarine and other butter substitutes are illegal to sell and possibly possess in Missouri.

That's right -- ride with Parkay in your grocery bag and you're riding dirty.

The law, which has been on the books since the 1890s, was the result of some serious string-pulling by the dairy industry, a once-mighty lobby that feared a new invention, called oleomargarine, whipped up by a French chemist, Hippolyte Mege-Mouries.

After margarine began gaining in popularity, imitation butter bans cropped up not only in Missouri, but across the United States and in Canada. Margarine bootlegging even occurred.