Wisconsin ban on margarine targeted for repeal

MADISON, Wis. — A quirky Wisconsin law that makes it a crime for restaurants to serve margarine at the table and not butter is being targeted for repeal.

Republican state Rep. Dale Kooyenga calls the law silly, antiquated and anti-free market. He introduced a bill earlier this month seeking to repeal it and he has 11 co-sponsors.

Wisconsin banned the sale or use of margarine colored to imitate butter in 1895. That wasn’t repealed until 1967, and since then the fight over margarine versus butter has largely cooled.

The law Kooyenga seeks to undo also requires that butter be served to students, patients and inmates at state institutions.

Despite past bitter fights over laws related to selling margarine in the Dairy State, Kooyenga says he doesn’t anticipate much fervor over his proposal.