Concern about adulterated food and food contamination resulted in the passage of Food laws and regulations in the United States , the first which was adopted in the 1780 in Massachusetts. This law penalized the seller of diseased, unwholesome, and corrupted product. Another law penalized the seller of wooden nutmegs. Other states also had a variety of statutes dealing with food.
When did the concern of adulterated food began?
At the federal level, no food legislation was passed until late in the 19th century, although the U.S Department of agriculture(USDA) began to be interested in the problem of adulterated feed and food earlier than that.
People became increasingly aware that protection was beyond what each state could do alone.
Concern about adulterated tea brought about the first federal food law, the Tea Act of 1883. This law attempted to prevent the sale of adulterated teas, but it was useless because it provided no standards for tea and no method of enforcement.
Fourteen years later a new Tea Act was passed that provided for a body of experts to set minimum quality standards and to inspect tea for adulteration. During this same period, several other federal food laws were passed.
One taxed and regulated the sale and manufacture of oleomargarine, and another dealt with filled dairy products in which dairy constituents such as milk fat were replaced by cheaper materials.
By 1906, when the first food and drug act was passed, nearly 200 measures had been introduced into the U.S Congress in various attempts to deal with adulterated and misbranded foods and feeds.
What did the USDA made for food adulteration?
In 1883 Dr. Harvey Wiley became chief chemist of the Chemical Division of the USDA. He proceeded to direct a department study of food adulteration and published several bulletins showing that nearly all classes of food were adulterated.
While some of the adulterants were found to be simply fraudulent, others were poisonous. The ultimate passage of a comprehensive federal food law, the Food and Drug Act of 1906, was a triumph for Dr.Whiley, who was committed to increasing safety and decreasing fraud in the food marketplace.
In that same year , Congress passed the Meat Inspection Act, which prevented the sale in interstate commerce of any unwholesome meat product. This act made mandatory the inspection of animals and carcasses for interstate commerce and set up the inspection service.
Although the Food and Drug Act in 1906 was a major breakthrough , it was weak and in effectual despite several attempts to strengthen it by amendments. A new law , the Food , Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938, included all the provisions of the 1906 law but also fixed the problems mad the former law unenforceable .
This law ensured enforcement by assigning it to a federal agency , the Food and Drug Administration FDA. It defined food, food preservatives, and artificial colors.
Conditions under which a food would be regarded as adulterated or misbranded were outlined. The law barred the sale of food prepared under unsanitary conditions or containing any deleterious or unsafe substances. Standards of quality and fill were specified.
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