In 1869 Emperor Louis Napolean III of France offered a prize to whomever could create a substitute for butter that could be used for the armed forces and lower classes. The French chemist Hippolyte Mège-Mouriés created a substance called oleomargarine. His initial attempts ar marketing margarine met limited commercial success and in 1871 he sold his patent to the Dutch company Jurgens. As early as 1877 laws began to be enforced that would prevent the spread of margarine.
The butter industry was concerned about the new artificial butter and took significant steps to prevent its success. Their tactics involved the use of tariffs, and taxes. Then they went further, attacking one of margarine's biggest problems. Margarine is naturally white, or near white. Manufacturers wanted to add yellow food coloring to make it look better, but that was banned in many countries. In the United States legislators went a step further and, in some states, enforced a rule that margarine had to have pink food coloring so that it would appear unappealing. This coloring law was stopped buy the Supreme Court, but the ban of other coloring remained strong.
In the 1960s the laws banning color were finally dropped, and margarine, as you know it, was now on the store shelves. Today the battle between butter and margarine continues, with butter pulling ahead thanks to concerns with trans-fats and consumers determination that taste of more important than saturated fat content.
-Professor Walter
Cool post, as always :)
I want to do something like this.
Posted by: Olivia | 12/30/2009 at 02:12 PM