Canned : the rise and fall of consumer confidence in the American food industry / Anna Zeide.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Zeide, Anna, 1984- author.

Contributor:

Beverly Bennett Rutstein CW'50 Fund.

Series:

California studies in food and culture ; 68.

California studies in food and culture ; 68

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Canned foods--United States--20th century.

Canned foods.

Canned foods industry--United States--20th century.

Canned foods industry.

United States.

Physical Description:

viii, 269 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Oakland, California : University of California Press, [2018]

Summary:

"This book explores the earliest roots of the modern food industry, focusing on the development of the canning industry in the United States. Canning leaders leveraged the power of scientific expertise to create a market for canned food. Before the mid-twentieth century, in order to win consumer trust, canners adopted new technologies, cooperated with federal food regulation, sponsored agricultural and bacteriological research, and standardized food production. All of these moves helped to make canned food a staple of American pantries by the 1940s. As other industries entered the processed food landscape, and environmental and consumer critiques emerged, canners widened their scientific research base to more centrally incorporate marketing, advertising, and political strategy. In their increasing power, industry leaders were less willing to defer to governmental authority and more eager to directly control production and consumption. This study takes up the stories of six particular canned foods--condensed milk, peas, olives, tomatoes, tuna, and Campbell's soup--to understand the tools used by the food industry to build consumer confidence in a new way of eating. This modified diet not only changed the relationship between business and consumers, but also the relationships among Americans, farmers, universities, advertisers, and the natural environment."--Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Condensed milk : the development of the early canning industry

Growing a better pea : canners, farmers, and agricultural scientists in the 1910s and 1920s

Poisoned olives : consumer fear and expert collaboration

Grade A tomatoes : labeling debates and consumers in the New Deal

Fighting for safe tuna : postwar challenges to processed food

BPA in Campbell's soup: new threats to an entrenched food system.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Beverly Bennett Rutstein CW'50 Fund.

Other Format:

Online version: Zeide, Anna, 1984- Canned.

ISBN:

9780520290686

0520290682

OCLC:

1000527064

Publisher Number:

99975776654