History of
Food Laws and Regulations
Adulteration
• Prevention – keep it from happening
– Can only be done by Companies
• Personnel within companies
• Punishment
– Encourage companies and management to
prevent adulteration from occurring
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Adulteration
• Economic adulteration
– Using a less valuable material
• ? Corn syrup
• ? Synthetic nutrient
• ? Yellow color vs Egg
– Removing valuable constituent
• ? Fat
• ? Caffeine
• Physical/chemical adulteration
• Presence of aesthetically displeasing foreign
material
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Adulteration
• Physical/chemical adulteration
– Contaminants that should not be there
– Presence of aesthetically displeasing foreign
material
– Potential unsafe contaminants
– Intentional and unintentional adulteration
• Microbial adulteration
– Inherent
– Contamination
• Assessment of safety – base of knowledge
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Early Legislation
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Religious regulations
Virginia – origin of food laws (1623-24)
Massachusetts – adulteration 1641
Plant inspections (bakeries) 1646
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Early Legislation
Sam Adams – signed First General Food Law
– Massachusetts - March 8, 1785
• "Whereas some evilly disposed persons, from motives of
avarice and filthy lucre, have been induced to sell diseased,
corrupted or unwholesome provisions, to the great nuisance of
public health and peace :
• Be it enacted that if any person shall sell any such diseased,
corrupted contagious or unwholesome provisions, whether for
meat or drink, knowing the same, without making it known to
the buyer shall be punished by
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Fine
Imprisonment
Standing in the pillory
Binding to the good behavior
• Or one or more of these punishments to be inflicted according
to the degree and aggravation of the offence
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Early Legislation
Federal Legislation
– sale of fresh and processed foods
• 1886 – Butter and Oleo-Margarine Act
– Legally defined butter and oleo-margarine
– Butter definition amended in 1923 to include a minimum of 80%
milkfat
• 1890 Bill - Federal inspection of salted pork and bacon when
boxed for export as requested
– Same Bill also banned the importation of and adulterated or
unwholesome food
• Initial Meat Inspection - 1891
– Inspect all live cattle and meat intended for export
– Inspect all live cattle, sheep and hogs destined for interstate
commerce before slaughter
– Post mortem inspection of all cattle, sheep and hog carcasses
prepared for human consumption
– Resulted in the "Inspected and Passed" label for meat
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Dr Wiley
• Published USDA Division of Chemistry Bulletin 13 Foods and Food Adulterants (10 Parts from 1887 - 1901)
• Bulletin 13: Defined nature and extent of adulteration in:
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Dairy products
Spices
Alcoholic beverages
Lard
Sugar, molasses and syrup
Tea, coffee, cocoa
Baking powder
Canned vegetables
Cereals
Preserved meats
Poison Squad
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Dept of Chemistry in U.S. Agriculture
Dr Harvey Wiley
Safety of specific ingredients (chemicals)
Twelve young men were selected as subjects to
test the effects of food preservatives
• Results: Boric acid, salicylic acid, sulphurous
acid and benzoic acid declared harmful when
continuously consumed over long periods of
time
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1906 Pure Food & Drug Act
• 7 C’s
– Change
– Complexity
– Competition
– Crusading
– Coalescence
– Compromise
– Catastrophe
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1906 Pure Food Act
• Forbade interstate and foreign commerce in adulterated and
misbranded food and drugs.
– Offending products could be seized and condemned;
– Offending persons could be fined and jailed.
• Drugs had either to abide by standards of purity and quality
• An effort failed to place in the law food standards as defined by the
agricultural chemists, but the law prohibited the adulteration of food
by the removal of valuable constituents, the substitution of
ingredients so as to reduce quality, the addition of deleterious
ingredients, and the use of spoiled animal and vegetable products.
• Making false or misleading label statements regarding a food or a
drug constituted misbranding.
• The presence and quantity of alcohol or certain narcotic drugs had
to be stated on proprietary labels
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1906 Pure Food Act
• The law sought to protect the consumer
from being deceived or harmed, mainly by
following a favorite assumption that the
average man was prudent enough to plot
his own course and would avoid risks if
labeling made him aware of them.
• The law gave Wiley's Bureau of Chemistry
the task of spotting violations and
preparing cases for the courts.
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Federal Meat Inspection Act of 1906
• Enacted June 30, 1906 and substantially amended by the
Wholesome Meat Act 1967
• Required USDA to inspect all cattle, sheep, swine, goats, and
horses when slaughtered and processed into products for human
consumption.
• The primary goals of the law are to prevent adulterated or
misbranded livestock and products from being sold as food, and to
ensure that meat and meat products are slaughtered and processed
under sanitary conditions.
• These requirements apply to animals and their products produced
and sold within states as well as to imports, which must be
inspected under equivalent foreign standards.
• The Food and Drug Administration is responsible for all meats
considered "exotic" at this time, including venison and buffalo.
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Federal Meat Inspection Act of 1906
• Its four main requirements were:
– 1) Mandated antemortem inspection of
livestock (cattle, swine, sheep, goats,
equines)
– 2) Mandated post-mortem inspection of every
carcass
– 3) Established sanitary standards for
slaughter and processing plants
– 4) Required continuous USDA inspection of
slaughter and processing operations
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1938 Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act
• weaknesses of the 1906 Act
– failed to provide clear-cut meanings and
specific means for enforcement
– insufficient funding for enforcement
– USDA was responsible for testing, but no
standards for foods were designated
– law required proof of intent to deceive or
poison; defendants simply pleaded ignorance
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1938 Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act
• Public opinion was aroused by a shocking
disclosure -- the deaths of more than 100
people from a poisonous "elixir of
sulfanilamide."
• On June 25, 1938, President Roosevelt
signed the Federal Food, Drug, and
Cosmetic Act.
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1938 Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act
• key provisions:
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prohibited economic adulteration
authorized standards
prohibited false or misleading labeling
requirement of labeling for "imitation"
required affirmative labeling
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name of food
net quantity of contents
ingredient statement
name & address of manufacturer, packer, or distributor
– requirements for dietary foods
– prohibited misleading containers
– authorized plant inspections
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Differences between 1906 and
1938 Acts - the 1938 Act
• prohibited injurious substances (old law prohibited only
added injurious substances)
• prohibits addition of poisonous substances, except where
unavoidable (then sets limits)
• authorized "Emergency Permit Control" to protect public
• required label declarations (colors, flavors, preservatives,
etc.)
• required labeling of "special dietary foods"
• controls sanitation of processing
• prohibits use of uncertified dyes
• prohibits use of deceptive containers
• authorized factory inspections
• increased criminal penalties
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Driving force for change
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honesty & fairness of manufacturers; competition
increased consumer awareness
nutrition and health
changes in technology
improved analytical methods
"trends" (vitamins, healthy foods)
change in enforcement "priorities" - shift to safety
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Wholesome Meat Act of 1967
• Federal State Cooperation
• Allows states to have own meat/poultry
inspection programs if their
requirements are “at least equal to”
federal requirements
• USDA pays 50% of program & provides
training , etc.
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Poultry Products Inspection Act of 1957
• Made Federal inspection mandatory for poultry
products shipped in interstate commerce.
Wholesome Poultry Products Act of 1968
• Modeled after the Wholesome Meat Act
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Egg Products Act of 1970
• Required USDA to ensure egg products
are safe, wholesome, & accurately labeled
• Only included breaker egg establishments
– FDA is responsible for shell egg establishments
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Enforcement of Food Laws
• The Bureau of Chemistry enforced the 1906 law
– Law enforcement functions were separated from agricultural
research in order to emphasize and secure better funding for the
latter in 1927
• 1927 Food, Drug, and Insecticide Administration formed
• 1931 renamed as the Food and Drug Administration.
– To prevent recurring conflicts between producer interests and
consumer interests in 1940
• 1940 moved to the Federal Security Agency from USDA
• 1953, became the Department of Health, Education, and
Welfare
• Now the Department of Health and Human Services.
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• http://www.msu.edu/course/fsc/840/class1.html
• http://www.koshertoday.com/history.htm
• http://www.boondocksnet.com/gallery/cart
oons/jungle04.html
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