Liebig's Extract of Meat Company facts for kids
Liebig's Extract of Meat Company was a British company. It made famous food products like LEMCO (Liebig's Extract of Meat) and was the first to create Oxo meat extracts and Oxo beef stock cubes. The company was named after Justus von Liebig, a German chemist from the 1800s. He invented a way to make beef extract in large amounts.
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How it Started
In 1847, Justus von Liebig, a German chemist, created a strong beef extract. He hoped it would be a cheap and healthy meat substitute for people who couldn't afford real meat. His method involved boiling meat with water and then reducing it to a thick paste.
However, in Europe, meat was too expensive to make the extract cheaply. So, it was hard to produce enough of it. Liebig shared his method with everyone in 1847. He wanted many people to benefit from it and for the cost to be low. Many small companies started making meat extract using his ideas. They often used his name on their products.
In 1862, a young German engineer named George Christian Giebert read Liebig's books. He believed the process could be done on a large scale. He wrote to Liebig and suggested building a factory in South America. In South America, cattle were often killed only for their hides. Giebert thought they could use the meat to make extract much cheaper than in Europe.
With Liebig's agreement, Giebert started a company called Societé de Fray Bentos Giebert & Cie. They built a test factory in Fray Bentos, Uruguay. By the end of 1864, they had made and sold a lot of extract. In 1865, Liebig joined the company as a director. The Liebig Extract of Meat Company officially started in London on December 4, 1865. Liebig checked the quality of the product in Europe. He promoted it as "the real" Liebig extract.
Other companies also used the name "Liebig's Extract of Meat." In Britain, a judge said that the name had become a common term. So, other companies could use it too. The judge said buyers should look closely at the products. To make their product stand out, Liebig's company started using the name "LEMCO" in Britain. They put it clearly on their products. This helped customers know they were getting the original product.
What They Made
Liebig's meat extract was a dark, thick spread, like molasses. It came in a white glass bottle. It was made from reduced meat stock and salt. It took about 30 kilograms of meat to make 1 kilogram of extract.
At first, the extract was sold as a healthy and cheap food. However, later studies showed it didn't have many fats or proteins. It wasn't as nutritious as real meat. A German scientist even found that dogs died if they only ate meat extract.
Because of this, the company changed its marketing. They started to focus on how easy the extract was to use and how good it tasted. They also said it could give you energy. Liebig and his supporters agreed it didn't have much protein. But they said its main purpose was to add flavor to food.
The product became very popular in Europe. By the late 1860s, a hospital in London used 12,000 pots of it each year. By 1875, the Fray Bentos factory made 500 tons of extract every year. Soldiers used it during the American Civil War and World War II because it lasted a long time and was easy to carry.
In 1873, Liebig's started making canned corned beef. They sold it under the name Fray Bentos. Later, with new freezing technology, the company also started selling frozen meat. The amount of food processed there was so huge that the town of Fray Bentos was called "The Kitchen of the World."
Today, Fray Bentos canned meats are still sold in Europe. The brand also makes meat pies.
The company also worked with a chemist named Henry Enfield Roscoe. They created a cheaper meat extract product called "Oxo". It was first a liquid, then in 1911, it became a bouillon cube.
Fray Bentos Factory Complex
The factory complex in Fray Bentos, Uruguay, was one of the largest industrial sites in South America. It helped bring the industrial revolution to the area. The city of Fray Bentos grew along with the factory. The plant was very important for Uruguay's cattle industry. This industry is still a main source of exports for the country.
The factory attracted many European immigrants. At its busiest, it had 5,000 workers. It is said that an animal was processed every five minutes. Every part of the animal was used.
In 1964, a typhoid outbreak in Aberdeen, Scotland, was linked to Fray Bentos corned beef. This happened because the water used to cool the cans at the factory was not always cleaned properly. Also, Britain joining the Common Market changed trade. These problems hurt sales. In 1971, the factory was given to the Uruguayan government. It never fully recovered and stopped making products in 1979. This was a big loss for the people living in the area.
Company History
In the 1920s, Liebig's Extract of Meat Company bought the Oxo Tower Wharf in London. They built a factory there.
The Liebig Extract of Meat Company was bought by the Vestey Group in 1924. The factory was renamed Frigorífico Anglo del Uruguay. The company owned huge amounts of farmland and cattle in several countries. Liebig later joined with another company called Brooke Bond in 1968. Then, Unilever bought Brooke Bond in 1984.
Later, parts of the business were sold to different companies. For example, Campbell Soup Company bought Liebig and Oxo in 2001. Campbell then sold the UK part of the business to Premier Foods in 2006. Other parts of Campbell's European soup business were sold to CVC Capital Partners and became Continental Foods in 2013.
Museum of the Industrial Revolution
The Museo de la Revolución Industrial (Museum of the Industrial Revolution) is located at the old factory site in Fray Bentos. Thousands of people worked at the Frigorífico Anglo del Uruguay (also known as El Anglo). This factory helped use many different farm products. When the factory closed, the local government decided to create a museum. It shows the original machines and tells the story of the industrial changes in Fray Bentos. This site has been suggested as a possible UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The museum is open for visitors and for learning. It displays the machines used for processing meat and making meat extract. You can see the old buildings, an 1893 water pumping machine, a full canning plant, and a meat-cooking area. There is also a laboratory with old chemicals and equipment. The museum has hundreds of photos and glass negatives that show what working life was like at Liebig's.
Cookbooks
Liebig's company worked with popular cookbook writers to make their products well-known. Writers like Henriette Davidis in Germany and Katharina Prato in Austria-Hungary wrote recipes for Liebig's products. Hannah M. Young wrote The Liebig Company's Practical Cookery Book in England in 1893. In the United States, Maria Parloa also wrote about the benefits of Liebig's extract. Later, Eva Tuite published "Lemco Dishes for all Seasons," which had many recipes.
Trading Cards
Liebig also used colorful calendars and trading cards to promote their products. They made many different advertising items, like table cards, menu cards, and games. In 1872, they started putting sets of trading cards in their products. These cards told stories, shared historical facts, or gave geographic information. Many famous artists designed these cards. They are still popular with collectors today.
Chimistes Celebres Trading Card Set
A set of these cards usually had six cards, all about one topic. This example set shows famous chemists from history. One card even shows Liebig and his students in their laboratory.
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Geber (Jābir ibn Hayyān)
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Albertus Magnus
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Antoine Lavoisier and Claude Louis Berthollet
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Frédéric-Charles Achard
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Justus Freiherr von Liebig's Laboratory in Giessen
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A.G. Hofmann at the Inauguration of the School of Chemistry in London
See also
In Spanish: Liebig Extract of Meat Company para niños
