The origins of 'excellence' : the debate on the quality of milk and cheese between XIX and XX centuries

Organic, natural, fresh food has currently a wide market, and consumers are paying an increasing attention to quality, especially in European developed countries. However, for a long period, naturalness didn't mean also quality or safety of food. Spoiled milk and cheese, unhygienic practices, harmful substances (and also frauds) were common. The processing and preserving of food lacked in scientific knowledge, technology, laws and regulation. The objective of the presentation is to analyse how and when the processing of milk and cheese was regulated in order to achieve safety; to enlighten the role played by entrepreneurs, Italian institutions and international competition; and to delineate the shift of attention from safety to quality in the debate within institutions, consumers and producers.