Article ID: CBB000930741

Hexa-Sabbat: Fremdstoffe und Vitalstoffe, Experten und der kritische Verbraucher in der BRD der 1950er und 1960er Jahre (2008)

unapi

Hexa-Sabbath. Foreign Matter and Vital Substances, Experts and the Critical Consumer in the FRG during the 1950s and 1960s In the late Fifties and early Sixties the regulation of food additives represented a remarkable turning point in German consumer politics, establishing a debate about decision making and policy advice, altering the discourse of purity and contamination, and inaugurating a new political actor, the organized critical consumer. The amendment of the Food Law in December 1958 functioned as a negotiation process between representatives of science, industry and the state, which was institutionalized in the Senate Commissions of the German Research Foundation. While these Commissions for preservatives, foreign matter and colorants worked behind closed doors, a public discourse about the toxic condition of modern life and the negative role of the pharmaceutical and chemical industry gained strength. The debate about the admission of hexamethylenetetramine (hexa) took part at a crucial moment. Hexa was used as a preservative in the fish industry. But its anti microbial effectiveness was caused by the decomposition of hexa to formaldehyde. Despite the commission's verdict against hexa, the lobbying activities of the industry granted it a reprieve. In the media, the case of hexa was seen as a touchstone for the capacity of negotiated decision making and the ability of rational scientists to resist the demands of industry. Finally, in 1963 it was the new political actor of the organized critical consumer, heir and successor to the housewife federations as well as to purists advocating life reform, who, supported by the media, enforced the prohibition of hexa as a preservative. Keywords: history of science - history of nutrition - consumer history - German Research Foundation - policy advice - purity and contamination

...More

Description On the regulation of food additives in German consumer politics.


Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB000930741/

Similar Citations

Book Alexander von Schwerin; (2015)
Strahlenforschung. Bio- und Risikopolitik der DFG, 1920–1970 (/isis/citation/CBB851567278/)

Book Valenze, Deborah; (2012)
Milk: A Local and Global History (/isis/citation/CBB001210091/)

Article Friesen, T. Max; Stewart, Andrew; (2013)
To Freeze or to Dry: Seasonal Variability in Caribou Processing and Storage in the Barrenlands of Northern Canada (/isis/citation/CBB001201437/)

Article Donnelly, Catherine; (2013)
75 Years of IFT: Food Microbiology in JFS--1936 to Present (/isis/citation/CBB001320892/)

Article Orth, Karin; (2004)
Das Förderprofil der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft 1949 bis 1969 (/isis/citation/CBB000740405/)

Article Carina Gliese; Thomas Schuetz; Katharina Stolz; (2020)
The Decline and Resurrection of Industries: The Example of the Consumer Goods Industry in Germany (/isis/citation/CBB750657887/)

Article Emmanuel Henry; Valentin Thomas; Sara Angeli Aguiton; Marc-Olivier Déplaude; Nathalie Jas; (September 2021)
Introduction: Beyond the Production of Ignorance: The Pervasiveness of Industry Influence through the Tools of Chemical Regulation (/isis/citation/CBB736985993/)

Article Gill, Manfred; Löhnert, Peter; (2002)
Jüdische Zwangsarbeiter im Aceta-Werk Berlin-Lichtenberg (/isis/citation/CBB000203109/)

Thesis Smith, Jenny Leigh; (2006)
The Soviet Farm Complex: Industrial Agriculture in a Socialist Context, 1945--1965 (/isis/citation/CBB001561283/)

Book Smith, Matthew; (2011)
An Alternative History of Hyperactivity: Food Additives and the Feingold Diet (/isis/citation/CBB001420219/)

Authors & Contributors
Jas, Nathalie
Valentin Thomas
Carina Gliese
Aguiton, Sara Angeli
Marc-Olivier Déplaude
Katharina Stolz
Concepts
Food science; food technology
Food preservation
Science and politics
Public health
Food and foods
Consumers and consumerism
Time Periods
20th century, late
21st century
20th century, early
20th century
19th century
Places
Germany
United States
Europe
San Francisco (California)
Greece
France
Institutions
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
World Health Organization (WHO)
Smithsonian Institution
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment