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Weiner, K. and Will, C. (2015) Materiality matters: Blurred boundaries and the domestication of functional foods. BioSocieties. ISSN 1745-8560
Abstract
Previous scholarship on novel foods, including functional foods, has suggested that they are difficult to categorise for both regulators and users. It is argued that they blur the boundary between ‘food’ and ‘drug’ and that uncertainties about the products create ‘experimental’ or ‘restless’ approaches to consumption. We investigate these uncertainties drawing on data about the use of functional foods containing phytosterols, which are licensed for sale in the EU for people wishing to reduce their cholesterol. We start from an interest in the products as material objects and their incorporation into everyday practices. We consider the scripts encoded in the physical form of the products through their regulation, production and packaging and find that these scripts shape but do not determine their use. The domestication of phytosterols involves bundling the products together with other objects (pills, supplements, foodstuffs). Considering their incorporation into different systems of objects offers new understandings of the products as foods or drugs. In their accounts of their practices, consumers appear to be relatively untroubled by uncertainties about the character of the products. We conclude that attending to materials and practices offers a productive way to open up and interrogate the idea of categorical uncertainties surrounding new food products.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2015 Palgrave MacMillan. This is an author produced version of a paper subsequently published in BioSocieties. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | cholesterol; functional food; materiality; script; practices |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Department of Sociological Studies (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 07 May 2015 12:40 |
Last Modified: | 25 Oct 2016 21:39 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/biosoc.2015.7 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Palgrave Macmillan |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1057/biosoc.2015.7 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:85766 |
Available Versions of this Item
- Materiality matters: Blurred boundaries and the domestication of functional foods. (deposited 07 May 2015 12:40) [Currently Displayed]