Early history of food regulation in the United States
Encyclopedia
The history of early food regulation in the United States started with the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act
, when the United States federal government began to intervene in the food and drug businesses. When that bill proved ineffective, the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt
revised it into the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act of 1938. This has set the stage for further government intervention in the food, drug and agricultural markets.
, most food oversight was mandated to state laws, which were enacted during the colonial days and served mainly trade interests. They set standards of weight, and "provided for inspections of exports like salt meats, fish and flour". In 1848, the first national law concerned with regulating food come out of the Mexican–American War
, and "banned the importation of adulterated drugs". Food inspection
was largely thought to be the duty of the consumer, not the government.
foods in an industrial setting. An 1886 report by the Illinois Bureau of Labor Statistics claimed that “New machinery has displaced fully 50 percent of the muscular labor formerly required to do a given amount of work”. Because of these improvements to agriculture, packaged cereals and canned foods became popular. Synthetic medicines (made in labs instead of natural medicines) and chemicals that altered the growing and processing of food began to appear.
were used to "heighten color, modify flavor, soften texture, deter spoilage, and even transform … apple scraps, glucose
, coal-tar dye
, and timothy seed" into a "strawberry jam" . However, for these new products, there was no regulation and manufacturers were able to put whatever ingredients they wanted in products like “tonics” without having to list them . Products were often labeled and packaged to appear larger than they were, or packaged to appear to have a higher concentration of food.
This began to worry high-quality producers who worried that their products might be undermined by deceitful goods. Farmers felt threatened by unfair competition as shady producers adulterated "fertilizer
s, deodorized rotten eggs, revived rancid butter, and substituted glucose for honey
". Real strawberry jam producers felt threatened by the bad strawberry “spread” substitutes, since consumers could not tell the difference while buying.
, against a challenger, oleomargarine
. Butter won and oleomargarine was taxed" . "Adulterated" products often used chemicals or additives to mask poor quality wheat, sour milk, or meat gone bad . In response, these "unethical" companies asserted that it was a consumer’s duty to protect themselves from shoddy products. The Division of Chemistry
started looking into the adulteration of agricultural commodities around 1867, and in 1883 Harvey Washington Wiley was appointed chief chemist.
was now considered misbranding and thus illegal.
, the "American Chamber of Horrors" helped illuminate the deficiencies in the old 1906 Act. Launched in 1933 with the book 100,000,000 Guinea Pigs
by Arthur Kallet
and Frederick J. Schlink, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) put on an exhibit to illustrate the need for a new law. Eleanor Roosevelt toured it to help elevate its status as a public relations tool. It showed jars with deceptive labeling and packaging which, in the case of jarred chicken, hid dark meat and was jarred in deceptive containers which seemed larger than they were.
Included were examples of harmful drugs, including Banbar, a “cure” for diabetes, protected under the 1906 law, and Lash Lure, an eyelash dye
that caused many of its women users to go blind. Also legal under the old law was Raditor, a “radium
-containing tonic that sentenced users to a slow and painful death.” This, along with the above court cases, caused the FDA to focus on replacing the now outdated “Wiley Act” of 1906.
of unsanitary slaughter houses. These women were "energized to take legal action almost as much by the attitude of the city bureaucrats [who were apathetic] was by the need to protect their families and the neighborhood" . If the city agency in charge of regulating slaughterhouses had been willing to listen to the Association and clean up the slaughterhouses, the women would have never continued their crusade. However, after a hearing, a slaughterhouse owner refused to clean up his property and this caused the women to pursue the execution of the penalty and continue a "constant vigilance" to keep it from happening again.
Inspired by the Association, 11 other city health protective associations grew out of the need to clean up stockyards
and slaughterhouses. In Louisiana
, Mrs. Richard Bloor took individual action and visited a packinghouse and afterwards "sent a description of the conditions to Upton Sinclair
to use in his exposes of the meat industry". The Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) was borne out of a need to protect communities from alcohol abuse and worked mostly on the local level.
Working mostly only on a local level, they set the tone for the Pure Food movement that would soon follow. Many club women were heavily involved in the temperance movement
and began to associate adulterated foods as having the same consequences as alcohol abuse
. This is because both inflicted harm on communities. Both were common abuses prevalent in poor communities, and led to malnourishment
, violence and other social problems. Women’s organizations began addressing these issues and broadened their activities beyond normal WCTU activities and more women who wanted to protect their communities joined their cause. Members of the WCTU, the Ladies Health Association, and women's clubs laid the foundation for further "pure food, drink, and drug campaigns in the early 1880s, while their activities centered around study, self-improvement, and philanthropy".
became the leader of the pure foods crusade. When Wiley was appointed, he decidedly set the Division of Chemistry in a different direction. He expanded the Division's research and conducted the Foods and Food Adulterants study, which demonstrated his concern about chemicals used in food. He also created the "Poison Squad" experiments, in which young, healthy men volunteered to ingest food additive chemicals to determine their impact on human health . Wiley unified many different concerned groups (including state inspectors, the General Federation of Women's Clubs, journalists, reform wing of business, congress members and associations of physicians and pharmacists. As Wiley worked to bring awareness to the pure foods crusades, it gained momentum and legitimacy. His "poison squad" brought national awareness to the problem, whereas women's groups brought local attention.
published The Jungle
, a book which exposed the filthy conditions of Chicago
slaughterhouse
s. Sinclair wrote the book while living in Chicago; he talked to workers and their families and his focus was the plight of the workers. However, the book turned people away from "tubercular beef" instead of turning them socialist like Sinclair wanted. The book was a best seller and the public outcry prompted President Theodore Roosevelt
to send officials to investigate. Their “report was so shocking that its publication would ‘be well-nigh ruinous to our export trade in meat’”. This report, Neill-Reynolds, underscored the terrible conditions illustrated by Sinclair. It indicated a need for "'a drastic and thorogooing [sic]' federal inspection of all stockyards, packinghouses and their products". The Jungle, combined with the shocking reports of the Neill-Reynolds Report (published June 1906) proved to be the final push to help the Pure Food and Drug Act
move quickly through congress.
on June 25, 1938. The first attempt at reform, The “Tugwell Bill” was a “legislative disaster”. Spurred by public outcry from the Elixir Sulfanilamide disaster (in which 100 people were killed because under the 1906 law, “premarketing toxicity testing was not required”), congress rushed to enact a new bill. Even with the Elixar disaster, the bill itself was not subject to much public awareness.
Pure Food and Drug Act
The Pure Food and Drug Act of June 30, 1906, is a United States federal law that provided federal inspection of meat products and forbade the manufacture, sale, or transportation of adulterated food products and poisonous patent medicines...
, when the United States federal government began to intervene in the food and drug businesses. When that bill proved ineffective, the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
revised it into the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act of 1938. This has set the stage for further government intervention in the food, drug and agricultural markets.
Origins
Before the 1906 Pure Food and Drug ActPure Food and Drug Act
The Pure Food and Drug Act of June 30, 1906, is a United States federal law that provided federal inspection of meat products and forbade the manufacture, sale, or transportation of adulterated food products and poisonous patent medicines...
, most food oversight was mandated to state laws, which were enacted during the colonial days and served mainly trade interests. They set standards of weight, and "provided for inspections of exports like salt meats, fish and flour". In 1848, the first national law concerned with regulating food come out of the Mexican–American War
Mexican–American War
The Mexican–American War, also known as the First American Intervention, the Mexican War, or the U.S.–Mexican War, was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848 in the wake of the 1845 U.S...
, and "banned the importation of adulterated drugs". Food inspection
Food safety
Food safety is a scientific discipline describing handling, preparation, and storage of food in ways that prevent foodborne illness. This includes a number of routines that should be followed to avoid potentially severe health hazards....
was largely thought to be the duty of the consumer, not the government.
Changes in technology
With the advent of modern machinery, food production (especially grain) moved forward at an alarming pace. For example, the “canning line” increased the efficiency of canningCanning
Canning is a method of preserving food in which the food contents are processed and sealed in an airtight container. Canning provides a typical shelf life ranging from one to five years, although under specific circumstances a freeze-dried canned product, such as canned, dried lentils, can last as...
foods in an industrial setting. An 1886 report by the Illinois Bureau of Labor Statistics claimed that “New machinery has displaced fully 50 percent of the muscular labor formerly required to do a given amount of work”. Because of these improvements to agriculture, packaged cereals and canned foods became popular. Synthetic medicines (made in labs instead of natural medicines) and chemicals that altered the growing and processing of food began to appear.
Processed food
Processed food was more easily transported, thanks to improvements in transportation. Chemical additivesFood additive
Food additives are substances added to food to preserve flavor or enhance its taste and appearance.Some additives have been used for centuries; for example, preserving food by pickling , salting, as with bacon, preserving sweets or using sulfur dioxide as in some wines...
were used to "heighten color, modify flavor, soften texture, deter spoilage, and even transform … apple scraps, glucose
Glucose
Glucose is a simple sugar and an important carbohydrate in biology. Cells use it as the primary source of energy and a metabolic intermediate...
, coal-tar dye
Aniline
Aniline, phenylamine or aminobenzene is an organic compound with the formula C6H5NH2. Consisting of a phenyl group attached to an amino group, aniline is the prototypical aromatic amine. Being a precursor to many industrial chemicals, its main use is in the manufacture of precursors to polyurethane...
, and timothy seed" into a "strawberry jam" . However, for these new products, there was no regulation and manufacturers were able to put whatever ingredients they wanted in products like “tonics” without having to list them . Products were often labeled and packaged to appear larger than they were, or packaged to appear to have a higher concentration of food.
This began to worry high-quality producers who worried that their products might be undermined by deceitful goods. Farmers felt threatened by unfair competition as shady producers adulterated "fertilizer
Fertilizer
Fertilizer is any organic or inorganic material of natural or synthetic origin that is added to a soil to supply one or more plant nutrients essential to the growth of plants. A recent assessment found that about 40 to 60% of crop yields are attributable to commercial fertilizer use...
s, deodorized rotten eggs, revived rancid butter, and substituted glucose for honey
Honey
Honey is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. The variety produced by honey bees is the one most commonly referred to and is the type of honey collected by beekeepers and consumed by humans...
". Real strawberry jam producers felt threatened by the bad strawberry “spread” substitutes, since consumers could not tell the difference while buying.
Court response
The first court case involving "adulterated" products was in 1886, in which farmers pitted quote “the reigning champion, butterButter
Butter is a dairy product made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk. It is generally used as a spread and a condiment, as well as in cooking applications, such as baking, sauce making, and pan frying...
, against a challenger, oleomargarine
Margarine
Margarine , as a generic term, can indicate any of a wide range of butter substitutes, typically composed of vegetable oils. In many parts of the world, the market share of margarine and spreads has overtaken that of butter...
. Butter won and oleomargarine was taxed" . "Adulterated" products often used chemicals or additives to mask poor quality wheat, sour milk, or meat gone bad . In response, these "unethical" companies asserted that it was a consumer’s duty to protect themselves from shoddy products. The Division of Chemistry
Food and Drug Administration
The Food and Drug Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one of the United States federal executive departments...
started looking into the adulteration of agricultural commodities around 1867, and in 1883 Harvey Washington Wiley was appointed chief chemist.
Provisions of the act
The law "forbade interstate and foreign commerce in adulterated and misbranded food and drugs". If a product was found to be in violation, it could be seized and condemned; if a seller was found violating they could be fined and jailed. The law did not define food standards by chemists, but it did prohibit the "adulteration of food by the removal of valuable constituents, the substitution of ingredients so as to reduce quality, the addition of deleterious ingredients and the use of spoiled animal and vegetable products". Misleading or false labelingFalse advertising
False advertising or deceptive advertising is the use of false or misleading statements in advertising. As advertising has the potential to persuade people into commercial transactions that they might otherwise avoid, many governments around the world use regulations to control false, deceptive or...
was now considered misbranding and thus illegal.
Effects of the act
The 1906 US Pure Food and Drug Act “defined food adulterations as a danger to health and as consumer fraud” . The “Meat Inspection Act,” which accompanied the law, made tax payers pay for the new regulation . The Department of Chemistry was transformed into a regulatory body charged with regulating packaging, labeling and protecting the consumer. The jam industry was one of the first to be subject to regulation. If a jam did not fit a certain standard of fruit-to-sugar-to-pectin ratio, it bore a “Compound Jam” label. After World War One, these companies, like BRED-SPRED, started aggressive marketing campaigns and attractive packaging to promote themselves. Branded with ‘distinctive names’ like “Peanut Spread” and “Salad Bouquet,” they sold a weak product (like a low ratio of peanuts, or weak vinegar) as high-quality substitutes. Similar deceptive labeling in canned foods prompted the McNary-Mapes Amendment in 1930 which “authorized standards of quality, condition, and/or fill-of-containers.” If a product was sub-standard, it had to display a ‘crepe label’ which read ‘below US standard, low quality, but not illegal’.The American Chambers of Horrors
Aided by Eleanor RooseveltEleanor Roosevelt
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was the First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945. She supported the New Deal policies of her husband, distant cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and became an advocate for civil rights. After her husband's death in 1945, Roosevelt continued to be an international...
, the "American Chamber of Horrors" helped illuminate the deficiencies in the old 1906 Act. Launched in 1933 with the book 100,000,000 Guinea Pigs
100,000,000 Guinea Pigs
100,000,000 Guinea Pigs: Dangers in Everyday Foods, Drugs, and Cosmetics is a book written by Arthur Kallet and F.J. Schlink first released in 1933 by the Vanguard Press and manufactured in the United States of America...
by Arthur Kallet
Arthur Kallet
Arthur Kallet was a leading consumer advocate.An engineer, Kallet co-authored a 1933 book entitled 100,000,000 Guinea Pigs: Dangers in Everyday Foods, Drugs and Cosmetics with fellow engineer Frederick Schlink.In 1936 he left as director of Consumers Research after its head F.J...
and Frederick J. Schlink, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) put on an exhibit to illustrate the need for a new law. Eleanor Roosevelt toured it to help elevate its status as a public relations tool. It showed jars with deceptive labeling and packaging which, in the case of jarred chicken, hid dark meat and was jarred in deceptive containers which seemed larger than they were.
Included were examples of harmful drugs, including Banbar, a “cure” for diabetes, protected under the 1906 law, and Lash Lure, an eyelash dye
Mascara
Mascara is a cosmetic commonly used to enhance the eyes. It may darken, thicken, lengthen, and/or define the eyelashes. Normally in one of three forms—liquid, cake, or cream—the modern mascara product has various formulas; however, all contain the same basic components of pigments, oils, waxes, and...
that caused many of its women users to go blind. Also legal under the old law was Raditor, a “radium
Radium
Radium is a chemical element with atomic number 88, represented by the symbol Ra. Radium is an almost pure-white alkaline earth metal, but it readily oxidizes on exposure to air, becoming black in color. All isotopes of radium are highly radioactive, with the most stable isotope being radium-226,...
-containing tonic that sentenced users to a slow and painful death.” This, along with the above court cases, caused the FDA to focus on replacing the now outdated “Wiley Act” of 1906.
The Pure Foods Movement
The Pure Foods Movement of the 1870s was a grass-roots movement creating the "principle source of political support for the Pure Food and Drugs Act of 1906". It was a coalition of many different groups, which is why it became so influential. The following explains the influential groups and individuals involved, as it was not an official coalition, rather a movement created by different individual interests.Impact of women's clubs
The Ladies Health Association was the first women's group to join the pure foods movement. Starting in 1884, they began a campaign to rid New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
of unsanitary slaughter houses. These women were "energized to take legal action almost as much by the attitude of the city bureaucrats [who were apathetic] was by the need to protect their families and the neighborhood" . If the city agency in charge of regulating slaughterhouses had been willing to listen to the Association and clean up the slaughterhouses, the women would have never continued their crusade. However, after a hearing, a slaughterhouse owner refused to clean up his property and this caused the women to pursue the execution of the penalty and continue a "constant vigilance" to keep it from happening again.
Inspired by the Association, 11 other city health protective associations grew out of the need to clean up stockyards
Feedlot
A feedlot or feedyard is a type of animal feeding operation which is used in factory farming for finishing livestock, notably beef cattle, but also swine, horses, sheep, turkeys, chickens or ducks, prior to slaughter. Large beef feedlots are called Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations . They...
and slaughterhouses. In Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
, Mrs. Richard Bloor took individual action and visited a packinghouse and afterwards "sent a description of the conditions to Upton Sinclair
Upton Sinclair
Upton Beall Sinclair Jr. , was an American author who wrote close to one hundred books in many genres. He achieved popularity in the first half of the twentieth century, acquiring particular fame for his classic muckraking novel, The Jungle . It exposed conditions in the U.S...
to use in his exposes of the meat industry". The Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) was borne out of a need to protect communities from alcohol abuse and worked mostly on the local level.
Working mostly only on a local level, they set the tone for the Pure Food movement that would soon follow. Many club women were heavily involved in the temperance movement
Temperance movement
A temperance movement is a social movement urging reduced use of alcoholic beverages. Temperance movements may criticize excessive alcohol use, promote complete abstinence , or pressure the government to enact anti-alcohol legislation or complete prohibition of alcohol.-Temperance movement by...
and began to associate adulterated foods as having the same consequences as alcohol abuse
Alcohol abuse
Alcohol abuse, as described in the DSM-IV, is a psychiatric diagnosis describing the recurring use of alcoholic beverages despite negative consequences. Alcohol abuse eventually progresses to alcoholism, a condition in which an individual becomes dependent on alcoholic beverages in order to avoid...
. This is because both inflicted harm on communities. Both were common abuses prevalent in poor communities, and led to malnourishment
Malnutrition
Malnutrition is the condition that results from taking an unbalanced diet in which certain nutrients are lacking, in excess , or in the wrong proportions....
, violence and other social problems. Women’s organizations began addressing these issues and broadened their activities beyond normal WCTU activities and more women who wanted to protect their communities joined their cause. Members of the WCTU, the Ladies Health Association, and women's clubs laid the foundation for further "pure food, drink, and drug campaigns in the early 1880s, while their activities centered around study, self-improvement, and philanthropy".
Harvey W. Wiley
Harvey W. WileyHarvey W. Wiley
Harvey Washington Wiley was a noted chemist best known for his leadership in the passage of the landmark Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 and his subsequent work at the Good Housekeeping Institute laboratories. He was the first commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration...
became the leader of the pure foods crusade. When Wiley was appointed, he decidedly set the Division of Chemistry in a different direction. He expanded the Division's research and conducted the Foods and Food Adulterants study, which demonstrated his concern about chemicals used in food. He also created the "Poison Squad" experiments, in which young, healthy men volunteered to ingest food additive chemicals to determine their impact on human health . Wiley unified many different concerned groups (including state inspectors, the General Federation of Women's Clubs, journalists, reform wing of business, congress members and associations of physicians and pharmacists. As Wiley worked to bring awareness to the pure foods crusades, it gained momentum and legitimacy. His "poison squad" brought national awareness to the problem, whereas women's groups brought local attention.
Upton Sinclair and The Jungle
In 1906, Upton SinclairUpton Sinclair
Upton Beall Sinclair Jr. , was an American author who wrote close to one hundred books in many genres. He achieved popularity in the first half of the twentieth century, acquiring particular fame for his classic muckraking novel, The Jungle . It exposed conditions in the U.S...
published The Jungle
The Jungle
The Jungle is a 1906 novel written by journalist Upton Sinclair. Sinclair wrote the novel with the intention of portraying the life of the immigrant in the United States, but readers were more concerned with the large portion of the book pertaining to the corruption of the American meatpacking...
, a book which exposed the filthy conditions of Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
slaughterhouse
Slaughterhouse
A slaughterhouse or abattoir is a facility where animals are killed for consumption as food products.Approximately 45-50% of the animal can be turned into edible products...
s. Sinclair wrote the book while living in Chicago; he talked to workers and their families and his focus was the plight of the workers. However, the book turned people away from "tubercular beef" instead of turning them socialist like Sinclair wanted. The book was a best seller and the public outcry prompted President Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
to send officials to investigate. Their “report was so shocking that its publication would ‘be well-nigh ruinous to our export trade in meat’”. This report, Neill-Reynolds, underscored the terrible conditions illustrated by Sinclair. It indicated a need for "'a drastic and thorogooing [sic]' federal inspection of all stockyards, packinghouses and their products". The Jungle, combined with the shocking reports of the Neill-Reynolds Report (published June 1906) proved to be the final push to help the Pure Food and Drug Act
Pure Food and Drug Act
The Pure Food and Drug Act of June 30, 1906, is a United States federal law that provided federal inspection of meat products and forbade the manufacture, sale, or transportation of adulterated food products and poisonous patent medicines...
move quickly through congress.
The Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act of 1938
The Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act was signed by President Franklin D. RooseveltFranklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
on June 25, 1938. The first attempt at reform, The “Tugwell Bill” was a “legislative disaster”. Spurred by public outcry from the Elixir Sulfanilamide disaster (in which 100 people were killed because under the 1906 law, “premarketing toxicity testing was not required”), congress rushed to enact a new bill. Even with the Elixar disaster, the bill itself was not subject to much public awareness.
Provisions of the act
This resulted in the 1938 Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act which “pioneered policies designed to protect the pocketbooks of consumers and food standards were enacted to ensure the ‘value expected’ of consumers”. “It changed the drug focus of the Food and Drug Administration from that of a policing agency primarily concerned with the confiscation of adulterated drugs to a regulatory agency increasingly involved with overseeing the evaluation of new drugs”.Changes from the 1908 Pure Food and Drug Act
The following are is a list of substantial changes from the previous 1906 law- Drug manufacturers were required to provide scientific proof that new products could be safely used before putting them on the market.
- Cosmetics and therapeutic devices were regulated, for the first time.
- Proof of fraud was no longer required to stop false claims for drugs.
- Addition of poisonous substances to foods was prohibited except where unavoidable or required in production. Safe tolerances were authorized for residues of such substances, for example pesticidePesticidePesticides are substances or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling or mitigating any pest.A pesticide may be a chemical unicycle, biological agent , antimicrobial, disinfectant or device used against any pest...
s. - Specific authority was provided for factory inspections.
- Food standards were required to be set up when needed “to promote honesty and fair dealing in the interest of consumers.”
- Federal court injunctions against violations were added to the previous legal remedies of product seizures and criminal prosecutions.