How do you like your food? Would you want your morning coffee to contain bone? How about pouring milk thinned with dirty water over your cereal? Better yet, would you want that milk preserved with formaldehyde? Would you give your children cocoa packed with sand?
Before you ask what craziness I have come up with, these were among the finding that government chemist Harvey Washington Wiley confirmed during the late 19th century. His findings led Congress in 1905 to agree "that regulations were needed. With the passage of the Food and Drugs Act and the Meat Inspection Act, the United States created the framework for a federal system to test ingredients, inspect food factories and recall unsafe products," according to an op/ed piece in The New York Times ("The Return of the Great American Stomachache").
The article, written by Deborah Blum, author of "The Poison Squad," goes on to state, "This system has been criticized as seriously underfunded and often overcautious. But it has prevented a return to the fraudulent and poisonous food supply of the 19th century, which one historian called the 'century of the great American stomachache.' That is, until recently, when the Trump administration began to unravel that safety net." She also states that the Trump administration has been "chipping away" at food safety measures.
To read the article in its entirety, click here.
