The Poison Squad: One Chemist's Single-Minded Crusade for Food Safety at the Turn of the Twentieth Century

In 1899, Senator William Mason of Illinois initiated a series of hearings to evaluate the rampant adulteration of food and drink in the United States. Known as the Mason hearings, the sessions continued for almost a year, and Dr. Wiley provided expert testimony at Mason’s request. The hearings explored the uses of adulterants, additives, preservatives, and dyes. They also exposed the rampant practice of flatly deceiving consumers by mislabeling packaging. For example, some “coffee beans” were made by mixing flour, molasses, dirt, and sawdust and then pressing the paste into molds to resemble the correct shape.

In his testimony, Dr. Wiley stressed that those products in question were overwhelmingly “foods made for selling to the poor” (67), emphasizing the inevitable vulnerability of customers without the financial means to purchase safe, healthy alternatives from reputable, ethical suppliers. Consumers who needed to purchase their food from a grocer were at a disadvantage because the effects of additives and adulterants were not yet understood. Furthermore, there were no legal requirements for disclosure in labeling which would allow them to make informed decisions. Even if pure food were available, consumers wouldn’t know how to distinguish it among the options offered, because there had been no clear assessment of ingredients.