If you think of the invention of milk chocolate, you might think of Henri Nestle (1814-1890), founder of the world's largest food and beverage company: Nestle S.A.
Actually, the invention which launched the young pharmacist Henri Nestle was an infant formula (Farine Lactee Henri Nestle) invented in the 1860's. The first life saved through use of the formula was a premature infant unable to tolerate mother's milk or any other substitute nutrition.
Henri Nestle's interest in developing infant formula was spurred by the high infant mortality rate. Of Henri Nestle's 13 siblings, 7 died before adulthood. His wife, the daughter of a charity doctor, was highly motivated to promote the research.
In the 1860's, Henri Nestlé and his friend, nutritionist Jean Balthasar Schnetzler, removed the acid and starch from wheat flour because they were hard for infants to digest. The infant formula, Farine Lactée Henri Nestlé, made of cow milk, wheat flour, and sugar was reconstituted with water just before use.
By 1870's, Nestle's Infant Food (malt, wheat flour, sugar, milk) was available in the United States of America, selling for 50 cents per glass bottle.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
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2 comments:
isn't that sort of pricey?
According to the site http://www.measuringworth.com/ppowerus/
fifty cents US currency in 1870 had a purchasing power of $8.20 in the year 2007.
It was expensive for the day, but the new Nestle baby formula of 1870 could save lives . . .
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