On 11/01/2010 17:10, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Grimly Curmudgeon wrote:
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember (Steve Firth)
saying something like:

Rod wrote:

And it doesn't matter because you can't buy margarine in the UK anyway.
Yes right, they changed the name to "spread" so it's all gone away
rolls eyes.

With added olive/waste oil nowadays.

Pretty sure there isn't much definition attached to 'margarine'

Wiki is interesting

The definition for margarine originally came from the legal definition
for butter €” both contained a minimum of 16% water and a minimum fat
content of 80%. This was adopted by all major producers and became the
industry standard.[11]

The principal raw material in the original formulation of margarine was
beef fat derived from oleo oil. Shortages in supply soon led to the
addition of vegetable oils and between 1900 and 1920 margarine was
produced from a combination of animal fats and hardened and unhardened
vegetable oils.[12] The depression of the 1930s, followed by the
rationing of World War II, led to a reduction in supply of animal fat;
and, by 1945, it almost completely disappeared from the market.[12] In
the U.S., problems with supply, coupled with changes in legislation, had
caused the manufacturers to change over almost completely to vegetable
fats by 1950 and the industry was ready for an era of product
development.[12]

During WWII rationing, only two types of margarine were available in the
UK, a premium brand and a cheaper budget brand. With the end of
rationing in 1954 the market was opened to the forces of supply and
demand and brand marketing became prevalent.[12] The competition between
the major producers was given further impetus with the beginning of
commercial television advertising in 1955; and, throughout the 1950s and
1960s, competing companies vied with each other to produce the margarine
that tasted most like butter.[12]

In the mid-1960s, the introduction of two lower-fat blends of butter oil
and vegetable oils in Scandinavia, called Lätt & Lagom and Bregott,
clouded the issue of what should be called "margarine" and began the
debate that led to the introduction of the term "spread".[11] In 1978,
an 80% fat product called Krona, made by churning a blend of dairy cream
and vegetable oils, was introduced in Europe; and, in 1982, a blend of
cream and vegetable oils called Clover was introduced in the UK by the
Milk Marketing Board.[11] The vegetable oil and cream spread I Can't
Believe It's Not Butter! was introduced in the United States in 1986 and
in the United Kingdom and Canada in 1991.[13][14]

Part of the legal definition of margarine may be found he

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si1995/uksi_19953116_en_1.htm

As I understand margarine must have certain levels of vitamins A & D (to
make it broadly similar to butter)[1]. "Spreads" do not have to conform.

(And if you follow various links you also find older version of the
legal definitions, etc.)

[1] Vitamin content of margarine
4.€”(1) Any margarine sold by retail shall contain in every 100
grams of such margarine€”

(a) not less than 800 micrograms and not more than 1000
micrograms of vitamin A, and

(b) not less than 7.05 micrograms and not more than 8.82
micrograms of vitamin D,

and a proportionate amount in any part of 100 grams.

--
Rod