Research Catalog

The poison squad : one chemist's single-minded crusade for food safety at the turn of the twentieth century

Title
The poison squad : one chemist's single-minded crusade for food safety at the turn of the twentieth century / Deborah Blum.
Author
Blum, Deborah, 1954-
Publication
  • New York, New York : Penguin Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, 2018.
  • ©2018

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Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Schwarzman Building to submit a request in person.

TextUse in library JFE 19-4905Schwarzman Building - Main Reading Room 315

Details

Description
xxi, 330 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations; 25 cm
Summary
  • Dr. Harvey Washington Wiley set out to ensure food safety. He selected food tasters to test various food additives and preservatives, letting them know that the substances could be harmful or deadly. The tasters were recognized for their courage, and became known as the poison squad.
  • "By the end of the nineteenth century, food in America was increasingly dangerous--lethal, even. Milk and meat were routinely preserved with formaldehyde, a practice based on the embalming of corpses. Beer and wine were preserved with salicylic acid, a pharmaceutical chemical; canned vegetables were greened-up by copper sulphate, a toxic metallic salt; rancid butter was made edible with borax, best known as a cleaning product. This was not by accident; food manufacturers had rushed to embrace the rise of industrial chemistry and were knowingly selling harmful products. Unchecked by government regulation, basic safety, or even labelling requirements, they put profit before the health of their customers. By some estimates, in New York City alone, thousands of children were killed by adulterated and chemically 'improved' milk. Citizens--activists, journalists, scientists, and women's groups--began agitating for change. But although protective measures were enacted in Europe, American corporations blocked even modest regulations. Then in 1883, Dr. Harvey Washington Wiley, a chemistry professor from Purdue University, was named chief chemist of the United States Department of Agriculture, and the agency began methodically investigating food and drink fraud, even conducting shocking human tests on groups of young men who came to be known as the Poison Squad. Over the next thirty years, a titanic struggle took place, with the courageous and inimitable Dr. Wiley campaigning tirelessly for food safety and consumer protection. Together with a gallant cast, including the muckraking author Upton Sinclair, who fought to reveal the horrific truth about the Chicago stockyards; Fannie Farmer, then the most famous cookbook author in the country; and Henry Heinz, one of the few food producers who actively advocated for pure food, Dr. Wiley changed history. When the landmark 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act was finally passed, it was known across the land as 'Dr. Wiley's Law.' Deborah Blum brings to life this timeless and hugely satisfying David and Goliath tale with righteous verve and style, driving home the moral imperative of confronting corporate greed and government corruption with a bracing clarity, which speaks resoundingly to the enormous social and political challenges we face today." -- From Jacket.
Alternative Title
  • One chemist's single-minded crusade for food safety at the turn of the twentieth century
  • Food safety at the turn of the twentieth century
Subjects
Genre/Form
  • Biographies.
  • Biography.
  • History.
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographical references (pages 295-319) and index.
Contents
"I wonder what's in it" -- Case of characters -- Introduction -- Part I -- A chemical wilderness -- Cheated, fooled, and bamboozled -- The beef court -- What's in it? -- Only the brave -- Lessons in food poisoning -- The yellow chemist -- The jungle -- Part II -- The poison trust -- Of ketchup and corn syrup -- Excuses for everything -- Of whiskey and soda -- The love microbe -- The adulteration snake -- The history of a crime -- Epilogue.
Call Number
JFE 19-4905
ISBN
  • 9781594205149
  • 1594205140
  • 0525560289
  • 9780525560289
  • 9780525560289 (canceled/invalid)
LCCN
  • 2018006211
  • 40028528164
  • 99978255951
OCLC
1024107182
Author
Blum, Deborah, 1954- author.
Title
The poison squad : one chemist's single-minded crusade for food safety at the turn of the twentieth century / Deborah Blum.
Publisher
New York, New York : Penguin Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, 2018.
Copyright Date
©2018
Type of Content
text
Type of Medium
unmediated
Type of Carrier
volume
Creator/Contributor Characteristics
Occupation/field of activity group: University and college administrators
Gender group: Women
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 295-319) and index.
Other Form:
Online version: Blum, Deborah, 1954- Poison squad. New York : Penguin Press, 2018 9780525560289 (DLC) 2018014601
Other Standard Identifier
40028528164
99978255951
Research Call Number
JFE 19-4905
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