1

Today there are contested opinions about the impact of nutrition and health

claims on front-of-package food labels on consumer behaviour. To under-

stand the integration and the reasons for these claims, an understanding of

the historical context is necessary. As part of my research project, which

involves a diachronic study of food labels in Britain from 1850–1970, this

seminar paper will draw attention to the term ‘Pure’ and analyse how the

word is presented on labels taking account of the context in which they

were produced.

1.0 INTRODUCTION

As a result of the Industrial Revolution Britain experienced a demographic

explosion during the 19th century and the food industry expanded from a

very small-scale into a large, highly mechanised industry. Food production

was industrialised to support the growing population, and as foodstuffs were

more and more processed and packaged, the need for food labels increased.

This was a time many producers adulterated or counterfeited their food for

a profit motive, and towards the middle of the 19th century, most of the

standard foodstuff were, to a greater or lesser degree adulterated. As a result

of this practice, the first Adulteration of Food and Drugs Act 1860 passed

(Collins, 1993), and the term ‘Pure’ began to appear on food labels to indicate

that their product was not adulterated. Unfortunately, systematic food

controls were rare at that time, and many producers took advantage of the

situation and used the term ruthlessly on food labels to provide trust or to

convey a healthy product regardless whether the food was adulterated or not.

The following chapters will take a closer look at the function of a food

label, food adulteration and how the term ‘Pure’ is included on labels and

in advertisements to inform, give the impression of quality, evoke emotions

or to provide trust.

This paper is presented as a part of the research seminar at the Department of Typography & Graphic Communication, University of Reading, 17 May 2018.

PhD candidate Bodil Mostad Olsen is supervised by Professor Sue Walker and Professor Alison Black.

A STUDY OF FRONT-OF-PACKAGE FOOD LABELS, WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO USE OF THE TERM ‘PURE’.

2

2.0 THE FUNCTION OF A FOOD LABEL

There was little need for labels before food production was industrialised.

Most foods were sold fresh, locally produced, locally purchased and

locally consumed. Written information was to some extent unnecessary

except when food was transported. Containers of wood, pottery or glass

would have been used, and identification of the trader’s name and sometimes

address would be carved, burned or embossed into the containers. Paper

packaging was introduced in Britain in the late 18th century, and food as tea,

mustard and sago powder were the first products to be labelled and on the

market (Davis, 1969: 25-37). Decorative borders and illustrations were often

used to give labels more attractive appearance and to show the quality of the

product (Humbert, 1972: 19). One early example is a food label for pickled

onions from the early 19th century (Figure 1). The label includes a coat of

arms illustration together with the phrase ‘By Appointment Purveyors to his

Majesty The King’ which intends to show the quality of the product. The

sentence is written with a variety of decorative letters and illustrated with

flourishes to make the label attractive and impressive.

The design and information provided on labels have changed over time

as a result of social factors, the discovery of the relationship between diet and

health and various label regulations. For years most prepacked food would

only include a label on the front. Besides, to give information about the food

and the name of the manufacturer, some food labels would eventually include

various terms, nutrition claims and/or health claims. These would describe

the food, highlight the quality of ingredients or inform the consumers about

the benefits of the particular food or the nutrients. Nutrition and health

claims, as well as terms, would also be used as marketing tools (Hawkers,

2004).

Today processed food also includes a nutritional fact panel that provides

details of the composition of the food and a list of ingredients in the food

(Temple and Fraser, 2013).

Figure 1. Pickled Onions label (70 x 45 mm)c. 1830. Bodleian Library, University of Oxford 2008: John Johnson Collection.

3

2.1 Terms, nutrition and health claims

Today we find following descriptions:

Terms: Examples of terms are ‘fresh’, ‘natural’, ‘home-made’ or ‘pure’.

Nutrition claim: “Any claim which states, suggests or implies that a food

has particular beneficial nutritional properties due to the presence, absence,

increased or reduced levels of energy or of a particular nutrient or other

substance, and includes claims such as ‘source of calcium’, ‘low fat’, ‘high

fibre’ and ‘reduced salt’ ”.1

Health claim: “Any claim that states, suggests or implies that a relationship

exists between a food category, a food or one of its constituents and health.

This would include claims such as ‘calcium helps maintain normal bones’ ”.1

The meaning of terms and claims change over time. As ‘Pure’ today can

refer to non-sweetened food or juice, the term in the 19th century would

rather refer to food or ingredients free from adulteration. A nutrition claim

today might be ‘Low in salt or fat’, while in the 1930s this could be ‘Vitamin

increased’. Vitamins were recently discovered, and nutritious food was more

important issues than food with too much salt and fat. Figure 2, 3 and 4 show

examples of a term, nutrition claim and a health claim today.

3.0 FOOD ADULTERATION

‘Pure’ is defined as “Not mixed with anything else or clean and free from

harmful substances”.2 The term when placed on food labels does not necess-

arily mean the food itself is healthy, but rather a description of one or more

ingredients or a word to convey a sense of health. Much food in the early 19th

century included substitutes for the genuine article or was added with harm-

ful or even poisonous ingredients. Bread contained considerable amounts of

alum, pickles and bottled fruit sulphate or copper, mustard lead chromate,

beer and tea sulphate of iron, and Venetian lead was found in chocolate to

mention a few (Accum, 1820; Artisan Food Law, 2014).

Figure 5 shows a label for mustard condiment from around 1850 in-

cluding the message ‘This Compound is warranted free from any injurious

ingredients’. As there were few analyses and controls of food at that time, it is

difficult to know if the warranty on the label is true or false. It was not until

The Sale of Food and Drugs Act 1875 passed, analyses and control of food

Figure 3. Nutrition claim Figure 2. Term Figure 4. Health claim

Figure 5. Mustard Condiment label (8 x 69 mm) c. 1850. © Bodleian Library, University of Oxford 2008: John Johnson Collection.

1 The Nutrition and health claims Guidance, Department of Health. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/204320/Nutrition_and_health_claims_guidance_November_2011.pdf2 https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/pure

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were taken seriously. The Act was however just the beginning of a range

of regulations and requirements for the years to come which would both

influence the prevalence of food adulteration and label designs.

4.0 THE TERM ‘PURE’ ON FOOD LABELS AND IN ADVERTISEMENTS

The following examples have been chosen to illustrate how the term ‘Pure’

has been placed on labels and in advertisements in different ways to inform,

evoke emotions or to provide trust. From the material collected so far, I have

chosen labels from 1870-1940 showing various foodstuff to illustrate how the

term ‘Pure’ reflects legislations and social factors of the time they were produced.

4.1 Mustard

Figure 6 shows a label for London mustard from around 1870. The term

‘Warranted Pure’ is placed vertically on one side of the label while a large

dragon illustration is highlighted in the middle. Integrated with the illustra-

tion the name of the company and the name of the product have been drawn

with shadow effects to give the appearance of three dimensions. On the right

side, a trademark is designed as a monogram encircled with flower illustrati-

ons. Both sides have decorative borders. ‘Warranted pure’ could either imply

that this is not a compound product or mustard free from harmful ingredi-

ents, but this is hard to tell as there are no ingredients listed.

Many illustrations or different symbols regardless of which product,

was often placed on food labels to give a feeling of authenticity, tradition or

quality in the 19th century (Humbert, 1972: 19-24). The illustrated dragons

convey an impression of protection, while the monogram gives a unique

identification. The illustration of the crown behind the monogram pro-

vides further references to royalty and high quality. Together with the term

‘Warranted pure’ the label definitely conveys an impression of trust regarding

a pure and high-quality product. However, as the label is produced around

1870 when food control was still not yet set in the system, the mustard might

have been adulterated, and the term could be a cheat designed only for profit.

Figure 6. Mustard label (82 x 164 mm) c. 1870.© Bodleian Library, University of Oxford 2008: John Johnson Collection.

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Another example is a label for Colman´s Mustard from 1935 (Figure 7).

This label also contains ‘Warranted Pure’, but the term is between brackets

and written in tiny letters. Several Acts were introduced at the beginning

of the 19th century to protect public health and to prevent fraud. It might,

therefore, be more likely to trust the term ‘Pure’ in this label than one from

the middle of the 19th century.

Colour can fulfil several communicative functions on labels. It attracts

attention, can evoke emotions (Kauppinen & Räisänen, 2014), and can be a

part of a brands identity (Wagner, 2014). The distinctive red and yellow was

introduced on Colman´s Mustard labels in 1866 and has since been a recogni-

sable and an essential part of the identity of the product. The label highlights

the name Colman´s Mustard, the trademark Bull´s Head and their purveyors

and includes coats of arms from both Great Britain and Norway as well as

Italy and Holland. According to their website, the head was introduced as

a trademark on labels from 1855. They write: “The bull’s head remains a sym-

bol of both the tradition and quality that has always been part and parcel of

Colman’s”.3 The word King is highlighted in the same font, shadow and

colour as Coleman´s Mustard which links the words together. All these ele-

ments create an impression of trust and quality. In one way the term ‘Pure’ is un-

necessary to convey the message which also might be the reason for the brackets.

Its therefore interesting to research Colman´s Mustard packaging today, which as

far as I am aware is the same product. The distinctive red and yellow livery is the

same, the Bull´s head is still on the packaging; however, the term ‘Pure’ removed.

Figure 7. Mustard label (276 x 201 mm) 1935. © Bodleian Library, University of Oxford 2008: John Johnson Collection.

Figure 8. Mustard label (85 x 50 mm) 2018. Private collection.

3 https://www.unilever.co.uk/brands/food-and-drink/colmans.html

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4.2 Chocolate

After The Sale of Food and Drug Act 1875 passed, the producers of compound

food was given legal protection provided the food was adequately labelled

and did not contain anything that was injurious to health or designed to

increase bulk. One example as a result of the Act was Cadbury´s pure cocoa,

which was protected from other products that contained fillers, for example,

starch or flour (Turner, 2007).

An example is a label printed in black from the 1880s for Fry´s Cocoa

(Figure 9) which has the following text: ‘Manufactured from Cocoa combi-

ned with other perfectly pure and wholesome ingredients, according to Act

of Parliament’. The content relates directly to the new Act, and regarding

people was informed about the content of the new legislation, this was one of

the first labels they could entirely rely on concerning a product which didn’t

include substitutes for the genuine article. The word FRY´s is drawn in Egyp-

tian display letters while COCOA is given decorative letters. The hand-drawn

lettering and the border around provides the label with a personal touch.

Cadbury used a variety of advertisements in addition to their labels to

convey and underline that their cocoa was pure and healthy. Figure 10 shows

an advertisement for Cocoa Essence which appeared in Chamber´s Journal in

1879. The look of the ad can remind of an article in a newspaper or a maga-

zine. The title is set in large Egyptian to catch attention, while the body text

is set in a small serif typeface. The term ‘Pure’ is directly connected to the

food adulteration analyses made by a public analyst of the Hackney district,

and the text contains an explanation of the results from the analyses where

Cadbury´s cocoa is compared with other cocoa essences. The information

provided is that Cadbury is the only cocoa that is pure without any mixtures;

hence the ad conveys trust through information.

Figure 10. Cadbury´s Cocoa Essence advertisement. Chamber´s Journal, 1879. © Bodleian Library, University of Oxford 2008: John Johnson Collection.

Figure 9. Fry´s Soluble Cocoa (40 x 40 mm) c. 1880-1900. © Bodleian Library, University of Oxford 2008: John Johnson Collection.

7

Another example of an advertisement from Cadbury is from 1897

(Figure 11) and approaches the term ‘Pure’ in a very different way. Visual

narratives are often used in advertising to tell a story and can be explained

as: “Any visual that is represented with an idea to communicate a story to

the onlooker” (Pimenta & Poovaiah, 2010). “Stories can involve, captivate

and entertain consumers” (Escalas, 2011; Pimenta & Poovaiah, 2010).

Cadbury is trying to captivate the viewer by communicating that their cocoa

is good quality, pure and healthy. The scene in the ad is very idyllic, and the

characters are representing several generations who are happy, satisfied and

looks healthy. A happy child is drinking cocoa preparing for a healthy body

and mind, a boy is drinking cocoa to get energy and longing to be an athlete,

and an old man drinks his cocoa for satisfaction. An explanation for this pure

and healthy drink is described by showing the content of minerals including

recommendations from the family doctor, The Analyst and The Lancet (one

of the world’s oldest general medical journals). All these elements create

evidence of trust. The hand-drawn lettering contributes to a personal touch

to the idyllic scene, and in one way invites the viewer to become part of the

excellent scenery.

The girl who serves cocoa and the look of the types of furniture tell us

that this is a home for the well-to-do. There were considerable differences

in social classes in the 19th century Britain, and a quarter and a third of the

population lived in poverty. However from the 1860s and onwards the

working class as a whole improved their position and started for the first

time to experience a taste of affluence (Burnett, 1979: 123). It is therefore

likely to imply that the ad was targeted towards various social classes.

Figure 11. Cadbury´s Cocoa advertisement (147 x 194 mm) 1897. © Bodleian Library, University of Oxford 2008: John Johnson Collection.

8

4.3 Vinegar

According to Accum vinegar products were largely adulterated in the middle

of the 19th century with sulphuric acid to give more acidity (Accum, 1820).

Figure 12 shows a label for vinegar from Hills & Underwood´s produced in

1860s-1870s. The term ‘Pure’ stands with the word malt, and together with

the name of the manufacturer, these words encircles two medals and the

trademark monogram. The term ‘Pure’ is carefully placed by the medals

showing Queen Victoria and Prince Albert which intends to give an impres-

sion of quality and high standard. The letters pure malt and vinegar are writ-

ten in sans serif letters with shadows to give an appearance of three dimen-

sions. The use of type was probably inspired by the introduction of large,

bold, eye-catching types which were specially designed for advertisements

in the beginning of the century (Twyman, 1970: 68).

For many decades most labels were done in black until food production

industrialised in the early 19th century, and printing in colour was invented

and introduced for commercial need. The vinegar label in figure 12 is

probably one of the first produced in colours which must have made this

label relatively attractive and exciting. However, as the label is created before

the Food and Drugs Act 1875, its difficult to assess if the term ‘Pure’ is correct.

A similar label for Vinegar is from around 1901 (Figure 13). It is interesting

to acknowledge how the term ‘Pure’ is combined with Malt Vinegar differently

than on the previous label. As there might be a kind of confusion if one should

relate ‘Pure’ only to the ingredient Malt or to the whole product on the label in

figure 12, there is no doubt that the term in this label intends to relate to the

whole product. ‘Pure’ is separated from Malt Vinegar both typographically and

in size and is written in small extended sans serif letters. Malt Vinegar is desig-

ned asymmetrically and highlighted below the name of the manufacturer.

Figure 12. Pure Malt Vinegar label (106 x 77 mm) c. 1860s-1870s. © Bodleian Library, University of Oxford 2008: John Johnson Collection.

Figure 13. Pure Malt Vinegar label (102 x 97 mm) c. 1901.© Bodleian Library, University of Oxford 2008: John Johnson Collection.

9

Also, the label includes ‘and free from all mineral acids’ which directly

refers to the problem with adulteration in the middle of the 19th century. To

emphasise quality and trust, a coat of arms illustration is included together

with the text ‘139 gold medals and highest awards from the exhibitions of the

world.’ The label also includes ‘Purveyors by special appointment to H.M.

The king & her late M. Queen Victoria’ which makes the label attractive

and most likely credible. The use of gold printing emphasises a close

connection to the medals and the royal family. As the label is produced after

The Food and Drugs Act 1875, one might expect to trust the information

placed on this label.

4.4 Pickles and vegetables

The systematic adulteration of food by substitutions gradually declined

towards the turn of the century, and according to the law, most of the food

was pure. However, as the chemical science advanced, the use of legitimate

adulteration as artificial colourants, preservatives and flavouring increased.

The problem was not to detect and quantify the chemicals substances, but

the difficulty was how to know or to agree whether or to what extent they

were poisonous and harmful to health. For example was Copper salt used for

greening pickled vegetables and copper sulphate was extensively used for

colouring and preserving vegetables in the early 1900s (Collins, 1993).

A label for Harris´ Kentish Pickles from around 1900 (Figure 14) is using

the term ‘Pure homemade’ to pay attention to the content. The term evokes

positive emotions and can give associations to the kitchen, mother and care.

The term can both describe a product free from preservatives and colourants,

and it can refer to a small scale production rather than a product produced in

a large factory. The colourful drawn illustration of fresh, raw vegetables gives

a natural and fresh appearance which underline the term ‘Pure homemade’.

Figure 14. Kentish Pickles label (110 x 76 mm) c. 1900.© Bodleian Library, University of Oxford 2008: John Johnson Collection.

10

The name Kentish Pickles is highlighted and hand drawn with white

letters on red background. In one way this will capture the buyer’s attention,

but at the same time, the hand-drawn letters can emphasise on a product

made in a small scale production. Based on the illustration and the name,

it is not possible to know for sure which pickled vegetables the packaging

contains.

Canned food was essential products in Britain from 1880 and onwards,

and large amounts of canned fish, meat, vegetables and fruit were imported

from continental Europe, America and Australia (Collin, 1993). Figure 15

shows a label for tinned garden peas produced in Belgium around 1920s. As

there was extensive use of preservatives in canned food, this label adds the

term ‘Guaranteed pure and free of preservatives’ to specify that the product

is free form any added substances. Compared to previous labels from 1850-

1900 discussed in this paper, the term is placed in small letters on the back

of the label instead of highlighted on the front. This label has more focus

on the actual content, the name of the manufacturer and the product. The

illustrated peas are drawn to give a natural appearance which might be a way

to emphasise on a pure product without any harmful substances added. The

term is placed close to the trademark which illustrates a sower, and these

two elements also build up under a pure product.

A label for English Cooked Vegetables from the 1940s (Figure 16) has

used the term ‘Guaranteed pure’ without any further explanations. It’s

interesting to observe that a generic label illustration is used, while the text

underneath cooked vegetable is ‘diced parsnips’. As far as there is no descrip-

tion of the content, it’s difficult to know what’s actually inside the packaging.

Based on the illustration, the term and the text ‘pure English Cooked vege-

tables’ one can easily imagine that the content is a range of vegetables

without any preservatives added. The label reminds of the label for Kentish

Pickles in figure 14 where a colourful drawn illustration of fresh, raw

vegetables gives a natural and fresh appearance which further emphasise on

the term ‘Guaranteed pure’. Compared to the hand-drawn letters for Kentish

Pickles, the typography used in this label is influenced by the sans serif

movements in Britain in the early 20th century (Twymann, 1979: 80-81).

Figure 15. Garden Peas label 105 x 314 mm) c. 1910-1920.© Bodleian Library, University of Oxford 2008: John Johnson Collection.

11

The phrase ‘English Produce, Buy British every time’ is placed in a frame

with colours from the British flag and gives attention to vegetables produced

at home. This might be an additional way to emphasise on that the content is

pure without preservatives added.

4.5 Jams and jellies

There were some concerns related to various additives in the early 20th

century, even though investigators did not agree if they were toxic or not, at

least in small quantities. The use of arsenic compounds was therefore pro-

hibited in 1903, while boreic acid, copper salts and other metallic mixtures

were banned in the middle of 1920s (Collin, 1993). One might expect that

some manufacturers exploited the situation of the government uncertain-

ty and added the term ‘Pure’ even though the product contained chemical

additives. As far as most labels from 1900 and beyond did not include any

content descriptions, one can not know for sure if the product was entirely

pure without any colouring or preservatives, even though this was conveyed

on the label.

By 1914 Britain was one of the world’s largest importers of canned goods,

and figure 17 shows a label for plum jam from around 1900 imported from

Australia. The term ‘Pure’ is highlighted and placed with the words ‘Jams &

Jellies’ which might seem to be a phrase for other jams and jellies from the

same manufacturer.

Figure 16. English Cooked Vegetables label (106 x 275 mm) c. 1930-1940.© Bodleian Library, University of Oxford 2008: John Johnson Collection.

Figure 17. Pure Jams & Jellies (78 x 241 mm) c. 1900.© Bodleian Library, University of Oxford 2008: John Johnson Collection.

12

As for many other labels from the same decade discussed in this paper, a

colourful illustration shows a variety of fruits and berries, even though the

content seems to be only plums. The white hand-drawn letters on a red back-

ground and the illustration attracts attention to the label, the green colour on

the back and the trademark ‘The rising sun’ convey nature and gives a clean

impression. However, whether ‘Pure’ actually refers to no added preserva-

tives, colours or other substances is hard to judge based on the information

given on the label.

Another label for jam imported from Australia (undated) is shown in

figure 18. This is a label for fig jam and includes the term ‘Pure’, probably to

convince that the jam does not contain any chemical preservatives. On the

other side, the term ‘Pure’ also might convey that the jam is made from real

fruit and not fruit pulp jellied with pectins. A visual narrative is highlighted

on the front where a confident farmer is delivering the jam directly to the

customer and hopefully can identify that the consumer can place trust in the

product. The illustration evokes positive emotions and can give associations

to homemade or a small scale production as described for the Kentish Pickles

label. The trademark ‘Good as Gold’ is also highlighted and reflects on the

quality of the product.

The use of yellow as a background capture the consumer’s attention

and enhances the impression of the trademark and the name gold, while the

flower illustrations underline the feeling of a natural product without any

additives.

Figure 18. Fig Jams label (31 x 115mm).© Rickards Collection of Ephemera at Reading.

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4.6 Milk

Milk sold in towns at the beginning of the 19th century was appallingly bad

contaminated with germs and was often the source of many infections and

epidemics, especially among children. It was often contaminated with water,

sometimes diluted and highly impure. (Burnett, 1979: 242-259). The Milk

and Dairies Act 1914 was introduced to cover the production and sale of clean

and safe milk (Dawson, 2014). However, it was not until after 1920 pasteuri-

sation, sterilisation and bottling of milk led to significant reduction of

bacterial levels (Collins, 1993).

Express Dairy Co Ltd was the first milk bottler in Britain, and an adver-

tisement for the company (Figure 19) from late 19th century depicts a visual

narrative of an idyllic scenery where a driver delivers milk to a house, most

likely to a family of the well to do. The driver is pointing on the wagon were

‘To her Majesty the Queen’ and the company name ‘Express Dairy’ is written.

The name of the company emphasises on the quality of the milk as it can be

fast delivered, and the phrase ‘Guaranteed Absolutely Pure’ conveys trust

to convince that the product is not adulterated and impure. As the company

delivered milk to the Queen, it is likely to believe that the milk actually is pure.

Many attempts to preserve milk was carried out in the second half of

the 19th century and resulted in dried milk powder or tinned condensed

milk. (Drummond, Wilbraham, & Hollingsworth, 1958: 332). However,

condensed milk was usually sweetened with sugar, extremely low in fat and

devoid in vitamin A and D, which resulted in malnutrition infants and was

one of the reasons there was enormous infant mortality in the period towards

the First World War (Burnett, 1979: 272).

Figure 19. Express Diary Milk advertisement (80 x 112mm) c. 1890-1900.© Bodleian Library, University of Oxford 2008: John Johnson Collection.

14

Tinned milk was often imported from abroad, and figure 20 shows a label

for evaporated milk produced in Canada in the 1930s. The label is made after

the discovery of vitamin A and D when scientists recently have explored the

connection between poor diet, vitamin deficiency and various diseases.

The term ‘Pure’ is combined with the words fresh, whole milk and placed on

the back of the label. The term is combined with a nutrition claim; scientific

information about Vitamin D Content. The information about how the pro-

duct is decreased with vitamin D is technically explained and in an academic

way trying to convey trust and convince the consumer about the benefits of

the product. On the front of the label, the name of the manufacturer and the

word milk is highlighted with bold letters. In one way the expression of the

label appears clean, to a certain extent clinical, as the use of blue, red and

white may at first glance remind of a ‘medical label’. This could be a choice

to convince the consumers that the product is pure, safe and harmless. The

word irradiated together with a static illustration of a cow and the technical

description on the back, underline the clean and pure expression. The label

is produced after the First World War, a time when graphic design has moved

from the decorative and ornamental appearance in the 19th century towards

a modern and more minimal use of type in the early 20th century.

Figure 20. Borden´s Evaporated Milk (56 x 94 mm) 1920-30s. ©Bodleian Library, University of Oxford 2008: John Johnson Collection.

15

5.0 CONCLUSION

This paper has shown that the term ‘Pure’ can be presented in many

different ways and combinations on food labels. The term appears often in

connection with the revelation of the food adulteration in the middle of the

19th century when people began to fear that the food they bought was added

harmful substances. The term was therefore frequently used among traders

and manufacturers to provide trust, often done for profit, regardless of

whether the food was adulterated or not. As long as there were no appropri-

ate analyses and controls and no ingredients were written on the labels, it is

impossible to judge if the term was false or true at that time. The disagree-

ments around whether the use of chemical additives in the 1900s was harm-

ful to health or not is another issue which makes it difficult to trust the term

entirely. However, the term ‘Pure’ definitely changes meaning concerning

the time the label was produced, and the labels also show to a certain extent

an indication of people´s diet and health in the period in which they were

produced. It is interesting to perceive how different elements, illustrations

and colours are implemented on labels to convey trust, but only to some ex-

tent how the term ‘Pure’ describes that the product is healthy. As mentioned

in section 3.0 the term ‘Pure’ does not necessarily mean that the food itself

is healthy, but rather a description of one or more ingredients or to convey

a sense of health.

16

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