{"id":998,"date":"2019-11-29T04:42:53","date_gmt":"2019-11-29T10:42:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lindagorchels.com\/blogs\/?p=998"},"modified":"2019-11-27T16:30:10","modified_gmt":"2019-11-27T22:30:10","slug":"the-poison-squad-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lindagorchels.com\/blogs\/the-poison-squad-review\/","title":{"rendered":"The Poison Squad Review"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

How was your Thanksgiving meal?\u00a0 I hope the food was delicious, fulfilling, and safe. That hasn\u2019t always been the case, as pointed out in Deborah Blum\u2019s book, The Poison Squad.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Travel back in time to the early 1900s to observe the state of food safety in the United States. Formaldehyde. Coal tar. Salicylic acid. Lead. Borax. These were added to many food products. Chalk was used to make thinned milk appear whiter and thicker.  Formaldehyde (embalming fluid!) was used to extend its salability. Decaying meat was preserved with salicylic acid. Food was dangerous. People died.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was the situation during the industrialization of the\nfood industry in the United States. Large-scale processing and distribution\nwith no oversight created conditions that pushed profit over safety. Enter Dr. Harvey\nWiley, federal chemist and crusader who fought for change. The book chronicles\nhis efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The name of the book came from the moniker for the volunteers who participated in Dr. Wiley\u2019s tests. Under controlled conditions, The Poison Squad agreed to consume food with additives commonly found in food at the time. Many became ill. Wiley felt it was time to expose the dangers of these ingredients which were \u201cgenerally recognized as safe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wiley faced significant push-back and needed help in spreading the word. He received that support from the Women\u2019s Christian Temperance Union, Good Housekeeping magazine, Fanny Farmer, and Henry J. Heinz. Still, the struggle lasted decades before the Food and Drug Administration was created.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike Upton Sinclair\u2019s The Jungle<\/em> (which was\nfeatured in the book), The Poison Squad is not fiction. It is a well-researched\nhistory of an intricate battle between lobbyists and government over food\nsafety. The Wall Street Journal review called it: \u201cA detailed, highly readable\nhistory of food and drink regulation in the United States. . . . [THE POISON\nSQUAD] shows the push and pull of competing economic, political and social\ninterests. The journey our country has taken in establishing food, drink and\ndrug regulation is an important one to understand because it is still going\non.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I discovered this book through my book club, but it is also this\nyear\u2019s UW-Madison\u2019s Go-Big-Read selection. Go Big Read is an annual initiative\nof the university to engage the campus and the larger community in \u201can academically-focused\nreading experience.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And it is worth the read. Not only does it have an\nhistorical perspective, it also has a d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu quality to what is happening in\nsociety today. It\u2019s eye-opening and thought-provoking information.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How was your Thanksgiving meal?\u00a0 I hope the food was delicious, fulfilling, and safe. That hasn\u2019t always been the case, as pointed out in Deborah Blum\u2019s book, The Poison Squad. Travel back in time to the early 1900s to observe… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hodgepodge"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Poison Squad Review - Linda Gorchels blogs<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Travel back in time to the early 1900s to observe the state of food safety in the United States. 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