Catalogue description Ministry of Food and Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food: Food and Drink Industry Division and predecessors: Registered Files, Miscellaneous and Manufactured Foods (MMF Series)

In 1958 a Miscellaneous Commodities Division was created when responsibility for all manufactured foods, including bread and other cereal products, as well as food packaging and the food trade industry generally, was placed under a single assistant secretary. In addition to bread and cereal products, the definition of manufactured foods included: vegetable and yeast purees and extracts; edible pastes including fish pastes; pies and puddings, including blood puddings; processed potatoes; desiccated, dehydrated and frozen foods; fruit juices, dried and crystallised fruit; jams, preserves and honey; margarine and compound cooking fats and oils; confectionery; soft drinks; liquid and dehydrated soups; jellies; condiments; and pet foods.

In 1959 the division was merged with that dealing with another manufactured product, sugar, to form the Sugar and Manufactured Food Division (from 1963 the Sugar, Tropical and Manufactured Foodstuffs Division). From 1968, however, the Ministry's relations with the food processing industry were dealt with on a non-commodity basis, with the effect that relations with manufactured food producers passed to the General Food Policy Division II (from 1971 the Food and Drink Industry Division, and then the Food Policy Division I (1977-1983), the Food Policy and Exports Promotion Division (1983-1988), the Food Policy Division (1988-1989) and the Food Industry, Marketing and Competition Policy Division (1989-).

Following the creation of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, former Ministry of Food responsibilities for tropical foods were split between the following divisions. Tea, coffee, cocoa, tropical nuts and spices were dealt with by the Oils and Fats, Dried Fruits, Tea, Coffee and Cocoa and Welfare Foods Division. Tropical fruits other than citrus fruits (of which the most important were bananas because of their importance to Colonial and Commonwealth trade) were dealt with by the Miscellaneous and Manufactured Foods and Emergency Services Division II. From 1957 to 1972 these tropical foods were dealt with by the various divisions responsible for processed and manufactured foods (see above under Manufactured Foods). In 1972, however, a separate Tropical Foods Division was set up to deal with all tropical foods except citrus fruits and, initially, tea. From 1973 the division was expanded to include responsibility for oils and fats, but this responsibility was shed again in 1982. In 1991 the division was merged with that dealing with trade policy so combining the work dealing with trade with third world countries, which in large part was in tropical foodstuffs, and the relevant commodity divisions, and forming a Trade Policy and Tropical Foods Division.

Alcoholic drinks were treated by the new Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food as a manufactured foodstuff, and from 1955 to 1971 the ministry's relations with and oversight of the drinks industry was carried out by the general manufactured food divisions and also, because of the use of cereals in spirits manufacture, by the various Cereals Divisions. In 1971, the increasing amount of work generated by the food and drinks industry, especially in the export field, was recognised in the creation of a Food and Drinks Industry Division, which handled all matters relating to alcoholic drinks. In 1977 this work passed to Food Policy Division III, which handled alcoholic drinks as well as the hotel and catering industry. In 1980 the work of the division was restricted to just that relating to alcoholic drinks, and in 1981 when one of the other Food Policy divisions was abolished, the division became Food Policy Division II. In 1982 it was renamed the Alcoholic Drinks Division. The division developed two branches, one handling wines, and the other all other alcoholic drinks. The work consisted of dealing with EU and national policy on wines, spirits, beers and cider, industrial production, consumer protection, competition in the drinks industry, and also alcohol misuse and adulteration of alcoholic drinks.

The Ministry of Food's Bacon and Ham Division passed unaltered into the amalgamated Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food though it was initially known as the Imported Bacon Division. The division continued until 1957, when it was absorbed into the expanded Meat Division.

In the final months of the Ministry of Food, responsibility for these foods lay with the Cereal Products Division (part of the Supply Department) and the Bakery and Confectionery Division. These divisions were merged in the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to form a new Cereal Products and Bread Division, which was responsible for all policy matters relating to milling and the use of processed cereals, including for bread, pasta, biscuits, breakfast cereals and confectionery. The division was abolished in 1957, at which time responsibility for these products passed to a combined Miscellaneous Commodities Division that also handled questions relating to food packaging, the food trade industry and manufactured foods generally.

The Ministry of Food's Supply Department had included a separate Oils and Fats Division, dealing mainly with the disposal of stockpiles of imported and home produced oils, fats and spreads (but not butter, which was treated as a milk product), but on the formation of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, its responsibilities passed to an Oils and Fats, Dried Fruits, Tea, Coffee and Cocoa and Welfare Foods Division. This was disbanded in 1957 and from then until 1973 responsibility for all matters relating to oils, fats and margarine and other spreads lay with the various divisions dealing with processed and manufactured foods. In 1972, responsibility passed to the Tropical Foods Division. In 1982 a Sugar, Oils and Fats Division was created, dealing with domestic and international policy, and the operation of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the European Community, for sugar and isoglucose, oilseeds, oils and fats, and also peas, beans and dried animal fodder. CAP matters relating to tobacco were added in 1990 and the division was renamed Sugar, Tobacco, Oils and Fats Division (from 1992, as the CAP regime changed, Sugar, Tobacco, Oilseeds and Proteins Division).