Food Regulation: “Only The Brave Dare Eat The Fare” (Joshua Johnson, The 1A)

In the 19th century, milk containing substantial quantities of formaldehyde (yes, the stuff that preserves dead bodies) killed thousands of children every year. The rise of industrial chemistry meant the decline of food safety in the United States.

This wasn’t an oversight. Food manufacturers had quickly learned they could profit by selling harmful products with long shelf lives. Even modest regulations of the industry couldn’t get traction.

Then in 1883, a chemistry professor decided enough was enough. Armed with a $5,000 government grant, Dr. Harvey Washington Wiley assembled a voluntary group of men known as the Poison Squad to test these products — by consuming them. Their motto? “Only the brave dare eat the fare.”...

We’ll discuss the impact of Wiley’s legacy on food regulation today with Deborah Blum, author of The Poison Squad: One Chemist’s Single-Minded Crusade For Food Safety At The Turn Of The Twentieth Century.
Interview:
https://the1a.org/shows/2018-09-26/sell-by-date