Svin – kvalitet og kontrol

A. K. Gjerløff og T. V. Jensen Svin – kvalitet og kontrol. (Pigs – quality and control). This article describes control measures and standardization processes in Danish pork production around 1900. The aim of the production was to create The Good Meat by rationalizing and standardising the body of the pig. Concomitant with this, theories about hygiene and microorganisms influenced veterinarian science, and professional meat control was gradually introduced. A historical analysis of the health and quality control of the slaughterhouses shows how demands about the meat together with economic and political agendas determined the character of the pig's body. Focus was on the thickness and qualities of fat, but rather based on economic than nutritional incentives. So ideals about the good pork were developed with a standardized presence of fat and absence of disease. These ideals were continued and can be found again in later body ideals – animal as well as human.