Industrial Chemistry

1919

Truby King TP145 R583

London: T.C. & E.C. Jack

In the 1860s, butter was in short supply in France, and prices for the dairy product were exorbitant. Napoleon III (1808-73) held a competition to find a substitute. In 1869, the scientist Hippolyte Mège-Mouriès (1817-80) invented margarine, and won the competition. Because it stored well and was cheap to produce, Napoleon III used it to feed his army in the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71). Mège-Mouriès ‘later improved upon this product….which could be solidified, salted, and coloured to resemble the real article [butter].’ During WWI (1914-1918), production grew from 1500 to 5000 tons weekly. Over the years, margarine has caused worldwide controversy, facing a backlash from the dairy industry, and attacked for its perceived deleterious health effects.