The Liebig's Extract of Meat Company (Lemco) was the originator of Liebig and Oxo meat extract

Meat extract

Meat extract is highly concentrated meat stock, usually made from beef. It is used to add meat flavor in cooking, and to make broth for drinking....

s and later Oxo

Oxo (food)

Oxo is a range of food products, consisting of stock cubes, herbs and spices, dried gravy, and yeast extract. In the United Kingdom, Oxo products are manufactured by Premier Foods...

 beef stock cubes. It was named after Baron Justus von Liebig

Justus von Liebig

Justus von Liebig was a German chemist who made major contributions to agricultural and biological chemistry, and worked on the organization of organic chemistry. As a professor, he devised the modern laboratory-oriented teaching method, and for such innovations, he is regarded as one of the...

, the German 19th-century organic chemist who founded it.

Early development

In 1840, Liebig developed a concentrated beef extract to provide a cheap and nutritious meat substitute, Extractum carnis Liebig, for those unable to afford the real thing, but European meat was too expensive for it to fill that role. Instead, his extract was dispensed by the royal pharmacy as a tonic.

George Christian Giebert, a young engineer, read of Liebig's work and wrote to him suggesting that they meet to discuss opening a manufacturing plant in South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

. The Liebig Extract of Meat Company (Lemco) was established on 4 December 1865 in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 with a capital of £150,000.

Since 1863 the industrial plant, owned by the Societe de Fray Bentos Giebert & Cie., was operating on the banks of the Uruguay River

Uruguay River

The Uruguay River is a river in South America. It flows from north to south and makes boundary with Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay, separating some of the Argentine provinces of the Mesopotamia from the other two countries...

 at Villa Independencia, Uruguay

Uruguay

Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...

, later called Fray Bentos

Fray Bentos

Fray Bentos, the capital of the Río Negro Department of western Uruguay, is a port on the Uruguay River. It is close to the border with Argentina and about due north of Buenos Aires.-History:...

, where the extract was manufactured using the flesh of cattle that would otherwise have been killed for their hides alone, bringing the cost of meat to one third of the European cost.

Products

Liebig's meat extract is a molasses-like black spread packaged in an opaque white glass bottle, and contains only reduced meat stock and salt (4%). It takes 3 kg of meat to make 100 g of extract. It was promoted in Europe as being invaluable not only as a supplement for the malnourished but also in the kitchen. The product enjoyed an immense rise in popularity. By 1875, 500 tonnes of the extract were being produced at Fray Bentos plant each year. It became a staple in middle-class European households and for soldiers, including the Allied forces of World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. It was even used by European adventurers such as Sir Henry Morton Stanley

Henry Morton Stanley

Sir Henry Morton Stanley, GCB, born John Rowlands , was a Welsh journalist and explorer famous for his exploration of Africa and his search for David Livingstone. Upon finding Livingstone, Stanley allegedly uttered the now-famous greeting, "Dr...

 on his trip to Africa. It is still sold by Liebig Benelux.

In 1873, Liebig's began producing tinned corned beef

Corned beef

Corned beef is a type of salt-cured beef products present in many beef-eating cultures. The English term is used interchangeably in modernity to refer to three distinct types of cured beef:...

, sold under the label Fray Bentos. Later, freezer units were installed, enabling the company to also export frozen and chilled raw meat.

The British tonic wine Wincarnis

Wincarnis

Wincarnis is a brand name of a British tonic wine, popular in Jamaica and some other former British colonies. It is a fortified wine now made to a secret recipe of grape juice, malt extracts, herbs and spices, but it no longer contains meat...

 originally contained Liebig's meat extract and was initially called Liebig's Extract of Meat and Malt Wine.

A cheaper version of Liebig extract was introduced under the name Oxo in 1899. Later, the Oxo bouillon cube

Bouillon cube

A bouillon cube [ˈbuːjɒn kjuːb] or stock cube is dehydrated bouillon or stock formed into a small cube about 15 mm wide. It is made by dehydrating vegetables, meat stock, a small portion of fat, salt and seasonings and shaping them into a small cube...

 was introduced.

Liebig also produced a line of biological products under the Oxoid name (starting in 1924), in particular glandular extracts and later dehydrated culture media.

Corporate history

In the 1920s, the company acquired the Oxo Tower

OXO Tower

The OXO Tower is a building with a prominent tower on the south bank of the River Thames in London. The building currently has a set of bijou arts and crafts shops on the ground and first floors. A well-known restaurant is located on the 8th floor, which is the roof top level of the main building...

 Wharf on the south bank of the river Thames in London. There they erected a factory, demolishing most of the original building and preserving and building upon the riverside frontage.

The Liebig Extract of Meat Company was acquired by the Vestey Group

Vestey Group

The Vestey Group is a privately owned UK group of companies, comprising an international food product business and significant cattle ranching and sugar cane farming interests in Brazil and Venezuela.-Business origins:William...

 in 1924 and the factory was renamed El Anglo

Frigorífico Anglo del Uruguay

The Frigorífico Anglo del Uruguay was a meatpacking plant located at Fray Bentos, Uruguay, on the Uruguay River bank.In 1924, the Vestey group purchases the old installations of Liebig Extract of Meat Company and the production goes on under a new name....

. Liebig merged with Brooke Bond

Brooke Bond

Brooke Bond is a brand-name of tea owned by Unilever, formerly an independent manufacturer in the United Kingdom, known for its PG Tips brand and its Brooke Bond tea cards.- History :...

 in 1968, which was in turn acquired by Unilever

Unilever

Unilever is a British-Dutch multinational corporation that owns many of the world's consumer product brands in foods, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products....

 in 1984.

In the meantime, Oxoid had moved to its own facilities in Basingstoke

Basingstoke

Basingstoke is a town in northeast Hampshire, in south central England. It lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon. It is southwest of London, northeast of Southampton, southwest of Reading and northeast of the county town, Winchester. In 2008 it had an estimated population of...

. Oxoid was purchased by Unilever and joined their Medical Products group as Unipath

Unipath

Unipath Ltd is a large pharmaceutical company specialising mainly in medical diagnostic kits related to women's reproductive health. Recently, it has been diversifying its product range to include more specialised test kits, primarily for the clinical market, in areas outside of women's...

. In 1997, Oxoid became independent through management buy-out and in 2000, PPMVentures, a subsidiary of Prudential Plc, bought a majority stake. In 2004, Oxoid Ltd was purchased by Fisher Scientific

Fisher Scientific

Fisher Scientific International, Inc. was a biotechnology company that provided products and services to the global scientific research and United States clinical laboratory markets...

 with the Oxoid board of directors sharing £30 million in cash and company shares. Following the merger of Fisher Scientific with Thermo Electron Corporation in November 2006, Oxoid Ltd (along with Remel Inc) became a division of Thermo Fisher Scientific

Thermo Fisher Scientific

Thermo Fisher Scientific is a large life sciences supply company that was created in 2006 by the merger of Thermo Electron and Fisher Scientific.-Predecessors and merger:...

. They are currently known internally, within Thermo Fisher as the Microbiology Division, but both exist as official UK and USA registered legal companies as Oxoid Ltd and Remel Inc.

Fray Bentos works

The works and yards at Fray Bentos ranked among the largest industrial complexes in South America and helped usher in the industrial revolution there. The plant played a major role in the development of Uruguay's cattle sector, which is still one of the country's main sources of export products. It attracted many European immigrants and, in its heyday, had 5,000 employees. It is said that an animal was processed every five minutes. Every part of the animal was used.

In 1964, a typhoid outbreak in Aberdeen

Aberdeen

Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....

 was traced to Fray Bentos corned beef. Investigations revealed that the cooling water used in the canning process at the plant was not being consistently chlorinated. Meanwhile, Britain's entry into the Common Market affected trade patterns. These factors combined had a serious negative impact on sales, and in 1971, the complex was given to the Uruguayan government. The plant's viability never recovered and the production ceased completely in 1979, a major blow to the area's residents. The complex is now an industrial museum.

Fray Bentos canned meats, now owned by Premier Foods

Premier Foods

Premier Foods plc is a British food manufacturer headquartered in St Albans, Hertfordshire. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.-History:...

, are still sold in Europe. The brand also offers meat pies, which have been manufactured in England since 1958.

Industrial Revolution Museum

Thousand of people worked in the “frigorifico”, which increased and diversified the use of agricultural products. When it was shut down the opportunity for the creation of a unique museum was presented, where the original machinery and social and cultural artefacts of the technological revolution in Fray Bentos can be shown to the world. The municipal government is working on a tourist and cultural project to preserve the German and British industrial heritage. All this work is also very important for the preservation of the history of Fray Bentos city, which grew simultaneously with the factory. The museum shows, for tourism and educational purposes, the machinery used in the meat and extract of meat process, the edifices, an 1893 “Merry weather” water pumping machine, a complete canning plant, an invaluable and extremely interesting plant where the meat was cooked, a laboratory full of chemicals and chemistry jars, flasks and stoves and hundred of photos and glass negatives with the Liebig's Company working life… Fray Bentos´ industrial heritage of buildings and machinery is still intact. Dr. Sue Millar from England said: “Thus there is the chance to save time and massive expenditure on conservation, to retain the exceptional scope and variety of the 19th and 20th century British manufacturing and engineering machinery…”

Cookbook

A popular cookbook, The Liebig Company's Practical Cookery Book by Hannah M. Young, was published in 1893 and re-released in 1999 (David Brown Book Co., ISBN 1-870962-16-8).

Advertising trading card sets

Liebig produced many illustrated advertising products: table cards, menucards, children games, free trade card sets, calendars, posters, posterstamps, paper and other toys. These were often in the form of trading card

Trading card

A trading card is a small card, usually made out of paperboard or thick paper, which usually contains an image of a certain person, place or thing and a short description of the picture, along with other text...

 sets with stories, historical tidbits, geographic tidbits, and so on. The sets usually consisted of six cards, one card included per product sale. Many famous artists were contacted to design those series of cards, which were first produced using true lithography

Lithography

Lithography is a method for printing using a stone or a metal plate with a completely smooth surface...

, then litho chromo, chromolithography

Chromolithography

Chromolithography is a method for making multi-color prints. This type of color printing stemmed from the process of lithography, and it includes all types of lithography that are printed in color. When chromolithography is used to reproduce photographs, the term photochrom is frequently used...

 and finally offset printing

Offset printing

Offset printing is a commonly used printing technique in which the inked image is transferred from a plate to a rubber blanket, then to the printing surface...

. The cards remain popular with collectors and are often collected in albums.

External links

• Oxoid web site
• Liebig antique advertising trade cards and ephemera
• Liebig trade card collection catalogues was at coordinates 33.118791°N 58.329849°W