Protecting and Connecting: Separation, Connection, and the U.S. Dairy Economy 1840–2002

Abstract

Over the last century and a half, urban consumers of fluid milk in the U.S. have often mistrusted the sources of their milk. This paper traces the history of these feelings of risk and the reactions to them, using milk as an entry point into the food safety discussions of the times. There are two conflicting manners in which risk was addressed. In the first, milk production is increasingly separated from the consumer, both geographically and emotionally, through health regulations, increasingly complex production, transportation, and sanitary technology, and industry consolidation. In the second, feelings of mistrust and risk are responded to through policies and marketing strategies that attempt to forge feelings of connection between consumers and particular producers and lessen the emotional distance between city and country. While these two techniques often seemed contradictory, many movements within the dairy industry attempted to balance the two.