From Sawdust in Bread to Chemicals in Water

Our anxieties about what we consume have become remarkably sophisticated. Today, we worry about pesticide residues and microplastics—invisible threats detectable only by advanced science. It is almost comforting to recall a time when the dangers were more tangible. A time when bread might be bulked out with sawdust or gypsum, a crude but effective method of maximising profit at the expense of the customer.

This was the reality in 1876, when Lucerne appointed Switzerland’s very first cantonal chemist, the pharmacist Robert Stierlin-Hauser. This anniversary marks the dawn of state-backed, scientific consumer protection in the country. What is revealing, however, is the impetus for this reform. It was not a grassroots movement of angry consumers demanding action. Instead, the call for regulation came from the business community itself, from honest merchants and artisans who found themselves unable to compete with the flagrant deception of their rivals.

When the market cannot regulate itself through trust, the state is called upon to act as referee. The scams of the era were brazen. According to Silvio Arpagaus, the current cantonal chemist in Lucerne, it was common for over thirty percent of milk samples to be watered down. Wine was artificially coloured to suggest a quality it did not possess, its origins entirely fabricated. Cheats who were caught faced a simple but effective punishment: their names were published in the cantonal gazette, a public shaming for undermining the marketplace.

The Swiss approach to building this system was, characteristically, a gradual and decentralised affair. While rudimentary controls on meat and wine existed in Lucerne as early as the 14th century, the scientific era began with Stierlin-Hauser. It would take another 33 years for the cantonal chemists to form a national association in 1909. The scope of their work expanded slowly, from adulterated foods to microbiological threats, prompted by events like a salmonella epidemic in Horw in 1964 which sickened over 80 people. Later, their remit grew to include the quality of bathing water and soil.

Today, the crude frauds of the 19th century have been replaced by more insidious problems. The focus has shifted to man-made chemicals once considered harmless, such as PFAS, the so-called “forever chemicals,” and the fungicide Chlorothalonil, which was used for half a century before being banned and subsequently found in groundwater. The fundamental problem of consumer trust remains, but the enemy is no longer a dishonest baker. It is the invisible legacy of industrial progress. The state continues its work, but it seems destined to always be reacting to dangers it failed to anticipate.

Written by Thomas Nussbaumer thomas.nussbaumer@alpineweekly.com