This article looks at the implementation of food standards of identity by the U.S Food and Drug Administration from the 1930s to the 1960s, a period in the FDA’s history wedged between the “era of adulteration” of the early twentieth century and the agency’s turn to “informational regulation” starting in the 1970s. The article describes the origin of food standards in the early twentieth century and outlines the political economy of government-mandated food standards in the 1930s. While consumer advocates believed government standards would be important to consumer empowerment because they would simplify choices at the grocery store, many in the food industry believed government standards would clash with private brands. The FDA faced challenges in defining what were “customary” standards for foods in an increasingly industrial food economy, and new diet-food marketing campaigns in the 1950s and 1960s ultimately led to the food standards system's undoing. The article concludes by looking at how FDA food standards came to be framed cynically, even though voluntary food standardization continued and the system of informative labeling that replaced FDA standards led to precisely the problem government standards were intended to solve.

本文着眼于美国食品和药物管理局从 1930 年代到 1960 年代对食品标识标准的实施情况，这是 FDA 历史上介于 20 世纪初的“掺假时代”和该机构转向“信息监管”始于 1970 年代。文章描述了 20 世纪初食品标准的起源，并概述了 1930 年代政府强制食品标准的政治经济学。虽然消费者权益倡导者认为政府标准对消费者赋权很重要，因为它们可以简化杂货店的选择，但食品行业的许多人认为政府标准会与自有品牌发生冲突。在日益工业化的食品经济中，FDA 在定义食品的“习惯”标准方面面临挑战，1950 年代和 1960 年代新的减肥食品营销活动最终导致食品标准体系的瓦解。本文最后通过研究 FDA 食品标准是如何被冷嘲热讽地制定出来的，尽管自愿食品标准化仍在继续，并且取代 FDA 标准的信息标签系统导致了政府标准旨在解决的问题。