Who owns Salmonella? : The politics of infections shared by humans and livestock in the Netherlands, 1959-1965

The Netherlands witnessed a major controversy between an agricultural and public health camp on livestock-associated Salmonella, and whether the state or the agricultural sector itself was responsible for its control in the period 1959-1965. The case is used to argue for historiographical analysis of negotiations between the policy domains of public health and agriculture rather than study these domains separately. Using Joseph Gusfield’s concept of ‘ownership’ of public problems, the paper shows why attempts by public health experts to define salmonellosis as a public problem and control poli... Mehr ...