GREENWICH, N.Y. — Inspection and safety measures are a part of any farm or food business helping ensure that food is raised and processed in a healthy manner before it reaches someone’s dinner table. The passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act in 1906 were the results of years of investigation, research, and public opinion changes during America’s Progressive Era.
The Progressive Era (1890s-1917) was a time when Americans sought to reform political, social, and economic problems in the country. During the Gilded Age the American economy and politics had become dominated by large corporations who controlled most wealth, and political machines that held political power. The era is remembered for its investigative journalists called “muckrakers” who worked to expose unethical business practices, corruption, and poor conditions wherever they could be found. Some results from the of era’s reforms include primary elections, direct election of senators, antitrust legislation, improved working conditions for industrial workers, and welfare of the poor.
One of the problems that the Progressive movement uncovered was poor food quality and unsanitary food processing which made for unsafe food. Prior to the late-1800s food safety was not as wide spread of an issue. While the technologies and methods used to make food safe today did not exist, food came from local sources and people typically knew where their food was coming from. This changed as urbanization increased and industrialization took over in the late 19th century.
Food traveled longer distances and to make these foods last longer canning and treatment with different kinds of chemicals became common. Borax, a chemical found in cleaners, was used as a preservative in meats and butter, and formaldehyde was often used to preserve milk to name two examples. To keep quantities and profits high some companies also filled their products with false ingredients.
This was also a problem in medicine. By the mid and late-19th century “patent medicines” became popular. These elixirs and pills of all kinds were unregulated so they could be made with anything. They were often high in alcohol content and included dangerous substances like morphine, cocaine, and opium. Patent medicines made many claims that they could cure anything from small ailments like an upset stomach or aches & pains to major diseases like cancers, tuberculosis, or colic. Through catchy and aggressive advertising these medicines were mainstream and used by many despite criticism of their efficacy by medical institutions.
Food safety laws, particularly regarding meat, date back centuries and can be found in Colonial America. By the 1880s beef, salt pork, and bacon were important exports yet rumors circulated in countries that American meat was of poor quality. Meat inspection laws were passed in 1890, 1891, and 1895 requiring meat be inspected for quality. However, none of these laws established a standard inspection system so inspection standards and practices varied from state to state and company to company. The large influence and money of trusts within the food industry also prevented food safety and purity legislation from advancing far in the political arena.
One of the first instances of problematic foods causing a stir was in 1898 during the Spanish-American War. Rotten canned meat was sent to U.S. soldiers fighting in Cuba but boric acid used in the cans masked its rottenness. Soldiers that ate the meat became sick and unfit for battle. Some even died because of the rotten supplies. Theodore Roosevelt who served as a Colonel with the famous “Rough Riders” in the conflict remembered the event calling the rations “embalmed meat.” The event sparked outrage and the beginning of investigations into the meat industry.
One of the first to take on this issue of food purity was Dr. Harvey Wiley, Chief Chemist of the Bureau of Chemistry in the USDA. Dr. Wiley began studying adulterated foods while as a chemist at Purdue University where he uncovered the use of glucose as an additive in honey. From then on Wiley made it his life mission to establish federal standards for food, beverages, and medications. Wiley became Chief Chemist in 1882 and set about lobbying government officials and educating the public on the problem of food purity. To demonstrate the dangers of the chemicals that were found in foods Wiley began conducting “hygienic table trials” in 1902. They became better known by their nickname, “The Poison Squad.”
The Poison Squad consisted of 12 clerks from the USDA who were boarded and fed foods laced with many of the various chemicals that were used in foods at the time and studied to see the effects it had on them. Despite the apparent danger of the experiment there was actually much interest and a waiting list to be a part of the study. The 12 men were split into two groups alternating eating normal food and poisoned food from week to week. Through the experiment the effects of borax, salicylic acid, sodium sulfite, sodium benzoate, formaldehyde, saccharin, copper salts and more were studied. Thankfully none of the participants perished, but many times they were unable to complete the entire experiment due to sicknesses incurred by the chemicals consumed. The trials captured the attention of journalists and government officials alike and helped expose some of the dangers to the additives and chemicals used in foods at the time.
The public’s attention on the topic of food purity became most rapt with the publication of the novel The Jungle in 1906. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair tells the story of a Lithuanian immigrant named Jurgis Rudkus and the hardships he faces after moving to the city of Chicago. Sinclair was an ardent socialist and he intended his novel to show the evils of capitalism and gain support for socialism in America. However, readers focused more on the poor working conditions and unsanitary practices at meatpacking facilities which Sinclair depicts in the book.
Sinclair spent weeks undercover in meatpacking plants in Chicago in order to portray the facility in which the character Jurgis works. Parts of the book describe the horrors found in meatpacking factories including the inhumane treatment of animals, dirty conditions, workers falling into vats of lard and being boiled alive, the prevalence of rats, and the use of rotten meat, dead rats, and other fillers in the making of sausages. While these parts of the book are short deviations from the story, they caused tremendous outrage and made the book a bestseller. While the book was successful, it was not successful in the way Sinclair intended and years later he would say of the book, “I aimed at the public’s heart, but by accident I hit it in the stomach.”
The book caught the attention of the government and President Theodore Roosevelt. While Roosevelt was no fan of the book’s socialist message the meatpacking industry conditions struck him and the reform-minded president sought to rectify the issue. He ordered the USDA to investigate the problem and he also commissioned a secret investigation lead by Labor Commissioner Charles Neill and social worker James Reynolds. The Neill-Reynolds Report confirmed the conditions and practices that The Jungle described.
With sufficient evidence President Roosevelt released the Neill-Reynolds Report which turned up the pressure on the meatpacking industry and Congress to act. After little movement in Congress the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act were quickly passed and enacted on June 30, 1906. The Pure Food and Drug Act prohibited the sale of adulterated and misbranded food and drugs in interstate commerce. It also established labelling standards. Food and drug labels could not be false or misleading, they had to include ingredient lists, and must carry warnings. The Meat Inspection Act prohibited the sale of adulterated or misbranded livestock and ensured that animals were slaughtered and processed under sanitary conditions. It also required all cattle, swine, sheep, goats, and horses be inspected by USDA inspectors before and after processing.
Both of these acts established federal standards for food and drug purity and safety helping make for safer products. They are two of the most remembered pieces of legislation from the Progressive Era. In the case of the Meat Inspection Act better inspections helped in controlling some zoonotic diseases. Both acts were administered by the Bureau of Chemistry which would later become the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1930. These acts have been updated with changing standards and discoveries through the years yet they remain an important base on which food safety measures started in the United States.
— Morning Ag Clips
