The trade in foodstuffs procured the significant royalty income, which is why the government authorities should be careful of counterfeits. In fact, the opportunities to defraud consumers were numerous. The wine was one of the goods that could be tweaked easily. In Lille the servants of the Duke of Burgundy Philip the Good preferred to buy wine by the monks because their social status was no guarantee of good wine and not altered. Managers instead of taverns were often accused of selling poor quality wines at higher prices or to lie about the origin of them. The magistrates of the city forced then to the tavern to taste their wines from a sommelier authorized to determine whether the products had been tampered with or not. In Bruges whenever a landlord wanted to sell the wine of a new barrel, he saw two men come into his shop, a wine taster that occurred if it was suitable for sale and an officer who had the task of measuring the size of containers in which he was paid. In addition to the winemakers another category to which the authorities had to pay attention was that of the butchers, it was not uncommon that sold beef, claiming to be castrato. All these control measures also translate into concern for public hygiene, as noted in the municipalities of Piedmont, where, in particular, butchers had to submit to very strict rules: was forbidden to leave out of their shop even the entrails of animals had to be closed in a bucket and dumped in a river outside the city.
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