U.S. Food Safety Laws 1906

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On the 30th of June in 1906, American President Theodore Roosevelt signed into law both The Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act.

The laws were a very important social reform at the start of the 1900s.

The Pure Food and Drug Act required that any weight and measure of food in a container had to be accurate, that no substitute ingredients for the food advertised in a container be allowed, and that food must not pose a health hazard or be made from decomposed or filthy produce.

It legally defined “adulteration” and “misbranding” for the first time.

Its goal was not to actually outlaw products that were unsafe — that would come later in the 1900s. To appease some politicians, it really was limited to being a labelling act: “Wiley’s focus on labeling rather than banning chemicals was an attempt to appeal to Republican politicians.” ^[1]Quentin R Skrabec. H. J. Heinz: A Biography (p. 153). Kindle Edition.

Further, it was limited though to foodstuffs crossing interstate borders.

Still, the act rewarded efforts of honest people and companies in the food trade: food producing companies such as those run by Henry John Heinz profited enormously from it, as he had used food purity as a competitive edge for some time already.

And, though it was limited in many ways to appease the mindset of the time, it was an important step for the future:

“For the first time, the federal government assumed permanent and comprehensive responsibility for the health and safety of the American food and drug supply. Although the statutes have been revised many times since 1906, the essence of modern food and drug law remains consistent with the principles of federal responsibility for consumer safety that underlay the first statutes a century ago.” ^[2]Gaughan, Anthony. Harvey Wiley, Theodore Roosevelt, and the Federal Regulation of Food and Drugs. Harvard Law School. 2004. Accessed May 2021 at https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/8852144/Gaughan.html?sequence=2

The act inspired the later Canadian Food and Drug Act of 1920.

It would be expanded and reinforced by the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938 after more than 100 children of sulfanilamide.

#FoodSafety

History

The Pure Food and Drug Act was also known informally as the Wiley Act, after Harvey Washington Wiley. He is now “remembered by historians as the father of the Food and Drug Administration” ^[3]Gaughan, Anthony. Harvey Wiley, Theodore Roosevelt, and the Federal Regulation of Food and Drugs. Harvard Law School. 2004. Accessed May 2021 at https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/8852144/Gaughan.html?sequence=2

In 1883, he become the chief chemist of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Dr. Harvey Washington Wiley working in U.S. Department of Agriculture Bureau of Chemistry laboratory. January 1st 1907. picryl.com Public Domain

Wiley had earlier written a paper showing how to detect adulteration of honey with glucose, and had long been concerned as a life-passion about how food fraud could damage people’s health.

“Wiley understood that systemic changes in the American economy had transformed the nature of the food supply. As industrialization led to a swelling urban population and a shrinking rural population, dependence on canned and preserved foods grew exponentially… In response to these problems, Wiley strongly encouraged state governments to pass regulatory legislation of their own. Several state governments did indeed assume responsibility for their milk supply, establishing rules regarding milk quality and purity. But such efforts occurred in very limited, haphazard fashion. Without strong leadership from Washington, efforts to battle food adulteration and mislabeling faced an uphill battle. From the beginning Wiley understood that he was engaged in a public relations war. As he later explained, the effort to promote safe food and drugs required “many years of education on the part of my Bureau and other agencies interested in protecting the health of the people before the vast and effective weight of public opinion swung in behind the passage and enforcement of a general pure food and drugs law.” But before then Wiley and food and drug law reformers faced concerted opposition from powerful interest groups. Food manufacturers and canners adamantly opposed efforts to ban chemical preservatives. Wiley singled out sugar, molasses, and saccharin manufacturers as the most adamant food adulterators he encountered in the late nineteenth century.” ^[4]Gaughan, Anthony. Harvey Wiley, Theodore Roosevelt, and the Federal Regulation of Food and Drugs. Harvard Law School. 2004. Accessed May 2021 at https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/8852144/Gaughan.html?sequence=2

Wiley even took his crusade out of the office and to the crowded events where regular people gathered:

“At the famous St. Louis World’s Fair of 1904, the Wiley and Allen forces set up a food purity exhibit outside manufacturers’ row, against the cries of the food exhibitors. Wiley used science to show the problems of adulterated food in America. He showed the chemicals and dyes found in products like ketchups. Wiley was able to get the cooperation of state agencies through the Association of State Food and Dairy Departments… The exhibit was extremely popular and brought out the National Consumers’ League and General Federation of Women’s Clubs.” ^[5]Quentin R Skrabec. H. J. Heinz: A Biography (p. 153). Kindle Edition.

As for Roosevelt, he himself had personally seen the impact of lack of standards:

“During the Spanish-American War, Roosevelt served with distinction as a combat officer in command of the famous Rough Riders. Roosevelt and his fellow soldiers seized the island of Cuba from the Spanish, and began occupying the island in the summer of 1898. To feed the troops, the army ordered the shipment of thousands of pounds of canned meat from the meat producers in the United States. Tragically, the meat turned out to be spoiled. Before the problem was discovered, thousands of American troops had fallen sick, and several hundred died. In fact, more American troops died from spoiled meat than died in battle. The episode appalled and enraged Roosevelt.” ^[6]Gaughan, Anthony. Harvey Wiley, Theodore Roosevelt, and the Federal Regulation of Food and Drugs. Harvard Law School. 2004. Accessed May 2021 at https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/8852144/Gaughan.html?sequence=2

U.S. Bureau of Chemistry building, Wash., D.C. 1890-1898. “The old laboratory at Fourteenth and B Streets N.W., which was torn down in July 1898”. Public Domain

Before the Pure Food and Drug Act, a “strong laissez faire mentality, coupled with the prevailing view that the Commerce Clause of the Constitution did not permit federal regulation of the manufacture of goods, blocked all efforts to modernize American food and drug law.” ^[7]Gaughan, Anthony. Harvey Wiley, Theodore Roosevelt, and the Federal Regulation of Food and Drugs. Harvard Law School. 2004. Accessed May 2021 at https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/8852144/Gaughan.html?sequence=2

Some politicians said that passing food safety laws was the slippery slope to socialism:

“[Republican] Senator Nelson Aldrich of Rhode Island… expressed his contempt for the “chemists of the Agriculture Department” whose support for federal food and drug regulation would, according to Aldrich, undermine “the liberty of all the people of the United States.” He even implied that the bill’s supporters wanted to impose socialism on the American people.” ^[8]Gaughan, Anthony. Harvey Wiley, Theodore Roosevelt, and the Federal Regulation of Food and Drugs. Harvard Law School. 2004. Accessed May 2021 at https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/8852144/Gaughan.html?sequence=2

U.S. Bureau of Chemistry microphotography apparatus

U.S. Bureau of Chemistry activities. J.B. Howard in lab, using microscope; microphotography apparatus in background. Circa 1900. Public Domain

Meanwhile, Henry J. Heinz, founder of the Heinz food empire, saw an opportunity to capitalize on people’s growing fears of food fraud by making sure his products were pure, and letting customers know:

“For Heinz the battle was becoming an advertising bonanza for the company. Heinz’s advertising campaign used the word “pure” throughout. Heinz even guaranteed purity, offering rewards if impurities could be found. He commonly used the following line in ads: ‘So common has adulteration become that there is but one safe way for the average housewife to buy vinegar, and that is, by name.’ Heinz sales boomed during the struggle for purity laws. The national food purity campaign played perfectly into the corporate mission of Heinz Company.” ^[9]Quentin R Skrabec. H. J. Heinz: A Biography (pp. 152-153). Kindle Edition.

The press had been reporting on unsanitary conditions in food processing plants. Finally Upton Sinclair’s novel ‘The Jungle’ caused an outroar about.the gruesome conditions of the meat-packing industry:

“15 pages of the book that described the grotesquely unsanitary processing practices of the meat packing industry. In those few pages Sinclair had catalogued a horrifying litany of industry misdeeds, including workers falling into processing vats, children drinking milk tainted with formaldehyde, and spoiled meat routinely concealed through chemical adulteration. The public reacted with a ferocity that bordered on mass hysteria. Ignoring the turgid political message of Sinclair’s book, the reading public concentrated exclusively on his lurid inside account of the meat packing industry and the clear threat such practices posed to the public health. Years later, deeply embittered by the failure of his socialist message, Sinclair admitted in resignation, “I aimed at the public’s heart, but by accident I hit it in the stomach.” ^[10]Gaughan, Anthony. Harvey Wiley, Theodore Roosevelt, and the Federal Regulation of Food and Drugs. Harvard Law School. 2004. Accessed May 2021 at https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/8852144/Gaughan.html?sequence=2

Even though Roosevelt and Wiley in other matters were laissez-faire pro business, they were not when it came to food safety:

“Both [Roosevelt and Wiley] grew up as staunchly pro-business Republicans, each came to see a pressing need for at least a degree of federal regulation of the marketplace, particularly in regard to consumer health and safety. Indeed, Roosevelt and Wiley envisioned the Food and Drug Administration as an important ally to free enterprise. They believed that federal regulation would give consumers a higher degree of confidence and security in purchasing food and drug products, which in turn would lead to further market growth. A century of federal food and drug law in the United States has born out that vision.” ^[11]Gaughan, Anthony. Harvey Wiley, Theodore Roosevelt, and the Federal Regulation of Food and Drugs. Harvard Law School. 2004. Accessed May 2021 at https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/8852144/Gaughan.html?sequence=2

U.S. Bureau of Chemistry building, Wash., D.C. Circa 1900. “July 29, 1907, was a steaming, red-hot typical July day. I alighted from the Pennsylvania Railroad train at the old Penn Station on the Mall at Sixth Street at about 8 a. m. There was no easy way to reach the Bureau of Chemistry by street car, so I trudged up the Mall to 14th and C Streets, S. W. The Bureau was mainly housed in a four story-and-basement brick building at what is now 14th Street and Independence Avenue….” — DUNBAR, PAUL B. “Memories of Early Days of Federal Food and Drug Law Enforcement.” Food, Drug, Cosmetic Law Journal, vol. 14, no. 2, 1959, pp. 87–138. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/26656921. Accessed 17 May 2021. / Public Domain

Many food product manufacturers were larding their products with preservatives that were dangerous (such as arsenic.) They said that if they were banned from using them, their costs would go up. Heinz say greater costs from continuing their use. He wanted to export to Europe and Europeans were already high suspicious of American food products. It was vital for Heinz’s future business plans that American food products be seen as safe:

“As a businessman Heinz realized that the small savings from preservative use could not replace the lost sales from a concerned public. Europeans were also pushing to limit American processed food, and Heinz had a large stake in exports…. [they were facing] countries such as France banning all American food products… Heinz understood that his future growth was dependent on the public feeling comfortable with processed foods. As a businessman Heinz realized that the small savings from preservative use could not replace the lost sales from a concerned public.”” [on account of the disreputable reputation American foods were acquiring] ^[12]Quentin R Skrabec. H. J. Heinz: A Biography (p. 153 – 154). Kindle Edition.

Organizations such as the National Grocer’s Association, Pabst beer, etc, came on side with Wiley and Heinz and helped put pressure on politicians to get the Pure Food and Drug Act through Congress.

“The National Grocer’s Association had joined the alliance with this dairy association based on their need for honest labeling and weights. Wiley counted beer king Frederick Pabst as a supporter as well. Pabst, like Heinz, believed in the German model of food purity laws. The opposition also formed alliances. Ketchup producers other than Heinz formed a “ketchup lobby” to oppose food purity laws. Williams Company, the second largest U.S. ketchup producer, headed up the opposition. Williams was opposed to the potential elimination of preservatives, which it deemed necessary for ketchup production. The fear of the elimination of preservatives brought Campbell Preserve Company into the opposition as well. Without Heinz, industry opposition would have crushed Wiley’s effort for purity laws.” ^[13]Quentin R Skrabec. H. J. Heinz: A Biography (p. 152). Kindle Edition.

The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 (PL 59-384) passed Congress by 240 to 17.

U.S. Bureau of Chemistry activities, clerical staff at work in office. Circa 1900. / Public Domain

Enforcement of the Pure Food and Drug Act was assigned to the Bureau of Chemistry, renamed in 1930 to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Enforcement of the Federal Meat Inspection Act was assigned to what would become the Food Safety and Inspection Service, part of the USDA.

In 1912, Wiley resigned from his work with the U.S. government and took over the laboratories of Good Housekeeping magazine where he established the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval.

Later in life, Wiley was awarded the Legion of Honor from the French government

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