by Bee Wilson
I would also like to acknowledge the help of a number of individuals and organizations who supplied me with information or assistance, including Colman’s Mustard, Ossau Iraty Cheese, Tilda Rice, and Waitrose. Mark Leatham of Merchant Gourmet was generous with his time and knowledge. I am very grateful to the Food Standards Agency in Britain and to the Food and Drug Administration in the United States (particularly Cindy E. Lachin) for supplying me with various pieces of information. At the Food Standards Agency, I am particularly indebted to Mark Woolfe. My thanks to the research school of history at the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia, where I wrote one of the chapters. Staff at the Cambridge University Library were exceptionally helpful.
My greatest thanks must go to David, Tom, and Natasha Runciman, who eat my food every day and haven’t died yet.
Picture Credits
The author and publishers would like to thank the following for permission to reproduce illustrations: pp. 6, 8, 13, 22, 37, 108, 140 and 230, the Syndics of the Cambridge University Library; p. 12, © Museum of London; pp. 61 and 312, Waitrose; p. 97, Mansell Collection/ Time & Life/Getty Images; p. 98 © ARPL/TopFoto; p. 138, Colman’s; pp. 148, 167, 173 and 207, The Advertising Archives; pp. 175, 183, 184, 201, 275 and 277, U.S. Food and Drug Administration; pp. 192 and 194, Upton Sinclair Collection, The Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana; p. 215, akg-images/ullstein bild; p. 244, PEPSI, PEPSI-COLA, DIET PEPSI and the PEPSI Globe design are registered trademarks of PepsiCo, Inc. Used with permission; pp. 249 and 255, the Syndics of the Cambridge University Library and Sensient Flavors Ltd; p. 284, Istara, Ossau-Iraty/BMA Communications; p. 293, Tilda; p. 294, Food Standards Agency; p. 315, CHINA OUT REUTERS/ China Newsphoto; p. 317, REUTERS/China Photos ASW/TW. The images on pp. 32, 144–45 and 219 are from the author’s collection.
Every effort has been made to clear permissions. If permission has not been granted please contact the publisher who will include a credit in subsequent editions.
Index
abattoirs (municipal slaughterhouses), in Paris, 200
Accum, Christian (Herz Marcus), 10
Accum, Friedrich Christian (Frederick): adulteration of food, popular impact of book on, 1–6; adulteration of food, the chemistry of, 16–20; on adulteration of food in Britain, 20, 25–33; battle against food swindlers, impact of his disgrace on, 42–45; on beer, 19, 39; on bread adulterated with alum, 83; career of, 6–15; Chemical Amusement, 14; as chemist, 2, 7, 9, 11–15, 117–18; on coffee, 23–24; as consultant, 17–18, 40; on cooking and food in Britain, 21–25; Culinary Chemistry, 21–22, 43; demon grocers, confirmation of suspicions regarding, 99; disgrace and departure from England of, 39–45; Explanatory Dictionary of the Apparatus and Instruments Employed . . . by a Practical Chemist, 13; flavour adjusters, exposure of, 248; food, love of, 1–2, 10–11, 21, 23, 45; gas lighting, promotion of, 7–9; government, call for action from, 34–35, 95; knowledge, fighting adulteration with, 325; lemonless lemonade, complaint about, 233; portraits of, 6, 12; Practical Treatise on Gas-Light, 8–9; swindlers, motivation of, 316; System of Theoretical and Practical Chemistry, 15; tea and sloe leaves, distinguishing between, 32–33; A Treatise on Adulterations of Food, and Culinary Poisons, 1–6, 16–20, 25, 27–28, 42–43, 55, 116; Walker and, 268, 270; Wiley, comparison to, 174; wine, adulteration of, 55, 58; wine, on using fruits to make, 23, 59
Accum, Judith (née Judith Suzanne Marthe Bert la Motte), 10–11
Accum, Phillip, 10
acetimeter, Chevalier’s, 118
Ackermann, Rudolph, 7, 9, 41
Acton, Eliza, 21, 83, 107–8, 110, 112
Adams, Congressman from New York, 154
Adams, Samuel Hopkins, 189
Addison, Joseph, 55–56
additives. See synthetic food
adulteration: Accum on (see Accum, Friedrich Christian (Frederick)); aesthetic, U.S. regulations regarding, 305–7; in Asia, 313–21; authenticity as the opposite of, 286 (see also Food Standards Agency (FSA)); battle against, government and (see government; names of countries); battle against, impact of Accum’s disgrace on, 42–45; of bread during times of famine, 74–76; in Britain (see Britain); chemical additives (see synthetic food); the chemistry of, 15–20; commercial defense of, xiv, 19–20, 33–35, 38–39, 95–96, 141; common familiarity with, xi, 4–5; definitions of, 137, 139, 141; ersatz food as, 214–18, 247–48, 314 (see also synthetic food); genetic modification as, 304–5; greed as the motive for, xii–xiii, 4, 27, 85–86, 164, 316, 322 (see also swindling and swindlers); grocers and, 96–101; intent as an element in, xii; of make-believe, mock food as, 219–20; pesticides as constituting and a remedy for, 305 (see also pesticides); poverty and, 101–7; preservatives, 180–89; principles defining, xii; processing aids as, 301–2; publicity regarding, impact of, 1–6, 115–17; regulation of (see government; names of countries); as sin, 166 (see also pure food movement); tolerance of, 39, 94–96, 107–15 (see also buyer beware, let the; laissez-faire); unintentional, 28–30; in the United States (see United States); urbanization and, 38–39
Adulteration Act of 1860 (Britain), 137
Adulteration of Coffee, On the (Hassall), 123
Adulteration of Food and Drugs Act of 1872 (Britain), 146
advertising and advertisers: for Bird’s Custard, 148; of breakfast cereals, 264; Campbell Soup Company, misleading by, 263–64; for Diet Pepsi, 244; of ersatz food in wartime Germany, 215–16, 218; by the flavour industry, 230, 248–49, 254–58; fortification of foods as gimmick for, 237–38; good publicity built on bad, strategy of, 141–45; Hassall’s assault on, 132–36; for Heinz ketchup, 207–8; for imitation products, 223–24; mock turtle soup, 219; purity as new ideal in, 147, 207–8; trademarks, 201–3; women seen as “Mrs. Average Housewife” in, 267
aesthetic adulteration, 305–7
Africa, wines in ancient, 50
agriculture. See farming
Ajimoto company, 245
Alberts, Robert C., 208
Albrizio, Mauro, 304
alcohol: in drinks (see beer; spirits; wine); Lavoisier’s analysis of, 16; swill milk and, 156
alcoholometer, Gay-Lussac’s, 118
ale conners, 89
alkalimeter, Schuster’s, 117–18
Allen, Robert, 204
Allen, Woody, 63
Allingham, William, 141
alum: in bread, 4, 16, 25, 77–79, 82–84; ingestion of, potential results from, 82–83; uses of, 77–78
American Medical Association, 237
American Temperance diets, 165
ammonia, added to tea, 18
amylase, 301
Analytical Sanitary Commission, 129
anchovies, 142–43
Angell, George Thorndike, 166–67, 177
annatto, 29–30, 173
Annie Hall (Allen), 63
Anti-Adulteration Association, 143, 146
AOC. See Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée system
Apothecaries’ Charter, 93
Appeal to Reason, 191, 193
Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée (AOC) system, 60–62, 283–85
apples, Orwell on the decline of English, 213–14, 285
aspartame, 244–47
Assize of Bread and Ale of 1266, 67–68, 109
Assize of Measures of 1197, 65–66
Austria, wine-makers, adulteration by, 63
authenticity, definition of related to food, 286. See also Food Standards Agency (FSA)
Autobiography (Roosevelt), 200
bacon, overcharging for, 100
Baker, George, 54
baking: of bread (see bread); government regulation in Britain, impact of removal of, 109–10; processing aids used in, 301; as a public duty, 67
Bangladesh, adulterated food in, 318–21
Bangladesh Observer, report of adulterated produce sold in markets, 320
Banzhaf, John, 263
Banzhaf’s Bandits, 263
barleymeal, adulteration with, 107
beef. See meat
beekeepers, Wiley and, 177–78
beer: Accum on, 19, 39; adulteration of during and after the Napoleonic Wars, 36–38; ale conners, medieval quality control by, 89; Cocculus indicus added to, 30–31, 36–38; government (Britain) standards regarding, 38; porter and, respective strengths of, 18
beet-sugar industry, Wiley and, 178
Belgium: food fraud in, 110–11; regulation of sweets in, 113
benzoates: in cranberries, 204; in ketchup, 204–9; poison squad trials of, 189, 204
Beveridge, Albert J., 199
Beveridge Meat Inspection Bill of 1906 (U.S.), 199–200
Bigelow, W. D., 181
biotechnology, 304–5
Bird’s Custard, 148
Bitting, Avril, 205
Bitting, Katherine, 205
Blackadder Goes Forth (BBC), 217
black markets, cheap bad food sold on, 105
Blackwell, Thomas, 142
Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, review of Accum’s Treatise, 2
Blair, Henry, 173
Bloor, Richard, 198
Blue Label tomato ketchup, 209
borax/boric acid: curing bacon with, 182; “poison squad” experiments on, 185–88; Wiley’s proposal for table use of, 180
Bowley, Wm., 132
Brande, William Thomas, 36
bread: adulterated, decline in percentage of, 147; adulteration of during times when food is short, 74–76; alum, mixed with, 4, 16, 25, 77–79, 82–84; commercial competition and removal of regulations, impact in Britain of, 109–10; enzymes in, 301; famine and, 73–77; fortification of, 236–37, 240; government regulation of, 47, 67–74, 83, 85, 109–10; the great bread scare of 1757–58, 77–84; Marx on the adulteration of, 85–86; medieval woman selling, 48; poor reputation of British, 79, 83–84, 107–8; quality of, modern indifference compared to traditional demands regarding, 46–47; Westphalian pumpernickel, 10; white, preference for, 77–78, 84
breakfast cereals, 264
Bred-Spred, 223, 225
Britain: Accum’s disgrace and departure, impact of, 42–45; adulteration in Accum’s, 20, 25–33; beer, standards regarding, 38; bread in (see bread); “buyer beware” culture in, 95; chemical analysis of food, limited capacity for, 118–19; cooking and food in Accum’s, 21–25; craft guilds in, 87–89; demon grocers in, 96–101; Devon, cider poisoned by lead in, 54; food during the 1880s and after, improvement in, 146–47; food regulation and quality, comparison with France regarding, 110–15; the Food Standards Agency (see Food Standards Agency (FSA)); gin, attempted banning of, 59; gourmet food swindles in, 280–82; hygiene, obsession with clean food and, 306; labelling, new laws regarding, 276; laissez-faire/industrialization and food adulteration in, xiv, 19–20, 33–35, 38–39, 108–9, 111–12; legalized consumer fraud, Walker’s campaign against, 266–71; legislation regulating food adulteration, 137, 139, 143, 146; the lozenge scandal, 139–40, 298; meat, enforcement of law against selling tainted, 104–5; the medieval food police in, 89–93; municipal slaughterhouses in, 200; organic food, standards for, 310; poverty and adulteration in, 101– 7; publicity, impact of anti-adulteration, 1–6, 115–17; seller-beware food culture, contemporary, 95–96; substitute foods, postwar attitude regarding, 222; the Sudan 1 affair, 299; Surrey Curry scandal in, 279; synthetic food in wartime, 213–14, 218–22; testimony in Parliament regarding food adulteration, 136–37, 141, 142; tolerance of food adulteration in, 39, 94–96, 107–15, 141 (see also buyer beware, let the; laissez-faire); tolerance of food adulteration in, Hassall and shifting public opinion regarding, 128–29 (see also Hassall, Arthur Hill); wartime diet, nutritional superiority of, 221; weights and measures in, 64–67, 90–91, 99–100; wine, actions regarding the adulteration of, 57–58; wine, increasing popularity of, 62. See also London
Brown, Basil, xi
Brown, George Rothwell, 184–86, 188–89
Browne, C. A., 7, 42
Browne, Thomas, 171
brown sugar, 123–24
burger disclaimers, 95–96
butter: adulteration of, 172; margarine as an alternative to, 168; opposition to margarine by proponents of, 168–74
buyer beware, let the: the commercial defense of adulteration and, 34; low prices, buying at implausibly, 105; seller beware, replacement by, 95–96, 137. See also laissez-faire
caffeine, 211
Cai Shouqiu, 316
Campbell’s mock turtle soup, advertisement for, 219
Campbell Soup Company, 263–64
Camporesi, Piero, 75
candy. See sweets (candy, confections, and sweetmeats)
Canner’s Amendment to the Pure Food and Drugs Act, 223
canning industry, use of preservatives and growth of, 180
Cannon, Geoffrey, 266
Capital (Marx), 85
Carlisle, Anthony, 11, 41
Carnation, 237
Caroline Walker Nutritional Guidelines, 270–71
Cato, 52
caveat emptor. See buyer beware, let the
caviar, 280–81
Chadwick, Edwin, 129
Charlemagne, 57
Chaucer, Geoffrey, 56
cheeses: AOC status granted to, 283–84; Double Gloucester, contamination of, 29–30
chemical additives. See synthetic food
Chemical Amusement (Accum), 14
Chemical Feast, The (Nader Study Group), 261
chemicals: classification of in relation to food, 232; the flavourists’ use of, 258–59; as food (see synthetic food)
chemistry: Accum as chemist, 2, 7, 9, 11–14; of adulteration, Accum on, 15–20; cooking and, 2, 21–22; food analysis, developments for and limits to, 118–19; the industrial revolution and, 13; Lavoisier and the transformation of, 15–16; microscopy used in, 120–21; organic, birth of, 118; public interest in, 12–13; swindling, contributions to and detection of, 117–18
cherries, synthetic, 248
cherry laurel, 26–27
Chesterton, G. K., 97–99, 147
Chevalier, Jean-Baptiste Alphonse, 109, 118
Chicago, Packingtown and the stockyards described in The Jungle, 190–99
Chicago Tribune: exploitation of the Pure Food law by Packingtown interests, 203; The Jungle, opposition to claims in, 198
chicken: increased fat in, 302–3; injected with water, 288; injecting flavour into, 260–61
chicory: adulteration of, 99; coffee and, 99, 105, 119, 122–23
Child, Samuel, 36
China: adulterated food in, 313–18; fake eggs in, 313–14; the fake milk scandal, 315–18; GM cotton farmers in, pesticide use by, 305
chlorometer, Chevalier’s, 118
Choate, Robert, 264
chocolate, Accum’s downfall and adulteration of, 44–45
Churchill, Isabel, 164
cider, lead in, 54
cinnamon, adulteration of, 128, 164
Clarke, A., 251
Clevenger, Weems, 306
Club Woman, insistence on all food swindlers to be eliminated, 166
Coca-Cola: Diet Coke, 244, 246–47; taste unknown to nature of, 250; Wiley’s lawsuit against, 211
Cocculus indicus, 30–31, 36–38
Cody, William F., 242
coffee: Accum on, 23–24; adulteration of, 99, 105; detecting adulteration of, 119; ersatz in wartime Germany, 215–16; false advertising for, 133; Hassall’s detection of adulteration of, 121–23; liver, 105–6; patent granted for machine adulterating, 112; Woolfe’s interest in, 287
Cohen, Robert, 155
colica Pictonum, 52
Collier’s Weekly, attack on drug frauds, 189
&n
bsp; Collins, Emmanuel, 80
Colman’s mustard, 138
Colncrest, 289
Columella, 51–52
Coming Up for Air (Orwell), 213
Committee on Journeymen Bakers, 110
Condition of the Working Class in England, The (Engels), 103
confections. See sweets (candy, confections, and sweetmeats)
conners, 89
cooking: as chemistry, 2, 21–22; dreadful British, 21; literary fraud among writers on, 43; peasant, loss of British heritage of, 21
Cook’s Oracle, The (Kitchiner), 21
Cooper, Derek, 267, 270, 309
Cooper, Ethel, 216
copper: in candy, 28; canning industry, use by, 180; in Crosse & Blackwell products, 142; greening of pickles and vegetables with, 25–26; tea adulteration, use in, 32–33
Cornell University, pesticide use by GM farmers, study of, 305
Corn Laws, 36
Corsica, charcuterie of, 285–86
costermongers, 102–3
Cowell, John, 38
cows, in swill milk dairies, 155–56, 160–61
cranberries, benzoic acid in, 204
Crawford, Michael, 302–3
cream, testing for adulteration of, 17
cretinism, 235
Crosse & Blackwell, 100, 141–45, 299
Culinary Chemistry (Accum), 21–22, 43
Curtice brothers, 209
custard, cherry laurel in, 26–27
cyclamate, 242–44
cyclohexylamine (CHA), 243
Dagley, Richard, 37
Daily Star, scepticism regarding new Bangladeshi food safety law, 320
Daly, W. H., 181
Dana, James Freeman, 14
Dang, Tran, 314
David, Elizabeth, 84, 213, 222
David Copperfield (Dickens), 159
Davy, Sir Humphry, 8, 15
DCC. See Dhaka City Corporation
Deadly Adulteration and Slow Poisoning; or Disease and Death in the Pot and the Bottle (anonymous), 116, 126
“Death in the pot” slogan, 3–4, 39
Death’s Doings (Dagley), 37
dehydrated foods, 220
Delaney, James, 231
Delaney Clause (U.S.), 232, 243–44