If it's yellow, it must be butter:: Margarine regulation in North America since 1886

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Universite de Montreal; HEC Montreal
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC HISTORY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-0507
• DOI: 10.1017/S0022050700022865
• 发表日期: 1999
• 页码: 353-371
• 关键词: choice

摘要

The first domestic food to be regulated by the federal government in the United States, margarine had a unique regulation history. No other food product has been so harshly treated throughout the world. The American margarine policy up to the 1950s is generally considered remarkably severe. The Canadian policy was even more stringent and more enduring. The province of Quebec, and until very recently of Ontario, still prohibits the yellow coloring of margarine. This article compares the history of margarine regulation in the two countries and uses the interest-group theory of government to investigate why it was so stringent.