107: The History of Food Safety Part 4: Food and Drug Law, Conspiracy, and Harveys Retirement

Hello! In this Week's final episode of the Formal Food safety series we wrap up with Harvey and continued development of the Food and Drug Law. We dive into multiple trials regarding various food additives such as nitrates in bleached flour and bones in boneless cod. We also discuss the conspiracy in the Department of Agriculture to try to remove Harvey from his position.

Sources include:

Coppin, Clayton A., and Jack High. “Umpires at Bat: Setting Food Standards by Government Regulation.” Business and Economic History, vol. 21, 1992, pp. 109–18. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23703213. Accessed 22 Sept. 2026.

Blum, Deborah. The Poison Squad: One Chemist's Single-Minded Crusade for Food Safety at the Turn of the Twentieth Century (pp. xi-xii). (Function). Kindle Edition.

Check out the book here!

https://bookshop.org/beta-search?bkshp-astro=t&keywords=poison+squad

Want to start at the beginning of the series?

Start here:

The History of Food Safety Part 1

https://www.itsahistorypodcast.com/the-history-of-food-safety-part-1-historic-methods-of-food-safety-germ-theory-and-pasteurization/

The History of Food Safety Part 2

https://www.itsahistorypodcast.com/the-history-of-food-safety-part-2-fraud-food-adulteration-and-harvey-washington-wiley/

The History of Food Safety Part 3:

https://www.itsahistorypodcast.com/the-history-of-food-safety-part-3-the-poison-squad-the-worlds-fair-and-upton-sinclair/

If you would like to send me any questions, comments, or ideas for future podcast episodes please email me at itsahistorypodcast@gmail.com.

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Thank you for listening!