Milk “anarchy”: food science, quality and infrastructures in Bogotá, 1938-1960

Abstract

This article analyzes the logics, interests and contingencies present in experts’ and legislators’ attempts to develop and sanitize the dairy system in the city of Bogotá, from 1938 to 1960. These efforts were framed by an institutional architecture from the municipal to the national level, and a context of increasing state intervention in nutrition issues and international technical cooperation on health projects. Despite the failure to improve milk quality or increase milk consumption, this case study shows us the effects of legislation that was ill-adapted to local circumstances in terms of the material infrastructure of the system and the commercial interests behind product quality regulations.