Paper long abstract:

In an advertisement in the Norwegian veterinary journal from the 1980s we meet Leocillin, an antibiotic targeting mastitis, a disease well known to lactating animals. The ad stated that "Leocillin knows no boundaries" and claimed that the drug had "special abilities to penetrate" both udder and global pharmaceutical markets. A picture of a cow's udder with a world map drawn upon it completed this message. At the same time, the journal contained critical articles spelling out how the use of antibiotics in relation to animals and food production might affect both humans and the wider environment. As such, the ad's message had a certain irony at a time when antibiotics and its ability to penetrate beyond intended use(r)s caught the attention of food safety and health authorities. If antibiotics could be transferred from animals to humans and environments, how were the relations between these entities to be conceptualized? And how did such concerns feed into debates about food safety? This paper will investigate how relationships between animals, environments and human eaters were reassembled in Norway in what might be called the age of antibiotics. I will utilize written sources such as articles from veterinary and medical journals as well as archival materials from Norwegian food safety and health authorities.