Editing Marmite (section)

== History ==
The product that was to become Marmite was invented during the late 19th century when the German scientist [[Justus von Liebig]] discovered that brewer's yeast could be concentrated, bottled and eaten.<ref name="bbc">{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13541148 |website=BBC News |title=Marmite: Ten things you'll love/hate to know |date=25 May 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ihatemarmite.com/marmite-history.asp |title=A brief history of Marmite |website=ihatemarmite.com |access-date=26 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120324142456/http://www.ihatemarmite.com/marmite-history.asp |archive-date=24 March 2012 |url-status=usurped }}</ref> In 1902, the Marmite Food Extract Company was formed in [[Burton upon Trent]], Staffordshire, England with Marmite as its main product and Burton as the site of the first factory.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Marmite_Food_Extract_Co |title=Marmite Food Extract Co. |website=Grace's Guide |access-date=15 July 2014}}</ref> The by-product yeast needed for the paste was supplied by [[Bass Brewery]]. By 1907, the product had become successful enough to warrant construction of a second factory at [[Camberwell Green]] in London.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.accomodata.co.uk/marmite.htm|archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20021113013604/http://www.accomodata.co.uk/marmite.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=13 November 2002|title=AccomoDATA - Marmite|website=webarchive.loc.gov|access-date=12 August 2005}}</ref>

By 1912, the discovery of [[vitamins]] was a boost for Marmite, as the spread is a rich source of the [[vitamin B complex]];
with the [[thiamine|vitamin B<sub>1</sub>]] deficiency [[Thiamine deficiency|beriberi]] being common during [[World War I]], the spread became more popular.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.unilever.co.uk/brands/foodbrands/marmite.aspx |title=Food brands: Marmite |website=[[Unilever]] |access-date=13 March 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100313071016/http://www.unilever.co.uk/brands/foodbrands/marmite.aspx |archive-date=13 March 2010 }}</ref> British troops during World War I were issued Marmite as part of their [[Field ration|rations]].<ref name="bbc" />

During the 1930s, Marmite was used by the English scientist [[Lucy Wills]] to successfully treat a form of [[anaemia]] in mill workers in Bombay. She later identified [[folic acid]] as the active ingredient.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.jameslindlibrary.org/articles/lucy-wills-1888-1964-the-life-and-research-of-an-adventurous-independent-woman/ |last=Bastian |first=Hilda |year=2007 |title=Lucy Wills (1888–1964): The life and research of an adventurous independent woman |journal=The Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh |volume=38 |issue=1 |pages=89–91 |pmid=19069045 |access-date=21 June 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081208152523/http://www.jameslindlibrary.org/trial_records/20th_Century/1940s/wills_et_al/wills-biog.html |archive-date= 8 December 2008 }}</ref> Marmite was used to treat malnutrition by [[Suriya-Mal Movement|Suriya-Mal]] workers during the 1934–35 [[malaria]] epidemic in [[Sri Lanka]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Origins of Trotskyism in Ceylon: A Documentary History of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party, 1935-1942 |first=George Jan |last=Lerski |chapter-url=http://www.marxists.org/history/etol/document/srilanka/ch01.htm |chapter=Chapter I: The Party of Protest is Launched |year=1968 |publisher=The [[Hoover Institution]], [[Stanford University]] |location=Stanford, California |via=Marxists.org |access-date=29 November 2008 |quote=The two things given to each patient were a bottle of the standard [[quinine]] mixture and Marmite rolled into the form of vederala's pills. The latter was said to have been the idea of the late Dr. Mary Ratnam and to have been more effective than the quinine itself, such was the degree of starvation among the peasantry. The [[Suriya-Mal Movement|Suriya Mal]] workers were amazed to find how this little Marmite revived them and put some life back into them.}}</ref> Housewives were encouraged to spread Marmite thinly and to "use it sparingly just now" because of limited rations of the product.<ref name=thin/>

In 1990, Marmite Limited, which had become a subsidiary of [[Bovril]] Limited, was bought by [[Hellmann's and Best Foods|CPC International Inc]], which changed its name to [[Hellmann's and Best Foods|Best Foods Inc]] in 1998. Best Foods Inc subsequently merged with Unilever in 2000, and Marmite is now a trademark owned by [[Unilever]].<ref name="TradeMark">{{cite web |url=http://www.ipo.gov.uk/t-find-number?detailsrequested=C&trademark=2333143 |title=Trade Mark 2333143 |website=[[Intellectual Property Office (United Kingdom)|Intellectual Property Office (UK)]] |access-date=3 June 2012}}</ref>