Food Safety

Food safety is has always been a major concern due to Common dangers such as bacteria, pesticide residue, and the adulteration of food. Some may play down the health risks and argue about the cost of production, but it is important to know where your food comes from and how it is manufactured. As long as consumers consider it a minor problem, and unsafe production goes unpunished, there is no escaping these dangerous practices. Because the government turns a blind eye, traders and factory owners may resort to unsafe and unethical activities, by adding harmful substances to your food items.
Food safety laws have come a long way since the early 1900’s, at the start of the technological revolution. The first turning point for food safety began with the release of Upton Sinclair’s novel The Jungle. Sinclair’s narrative of the meat packing industry, along with public adversity, lead president Theodore Roosevelt to pass the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 (Pampel 6). The Meat Inspection Act mandated that livestock be inspected before and after slaughter, established sanitary standards for slaughterhouses and processing plants, and required the continuous inspection of meat processing and packaging (“History of…”). This ensured safer food by requiring meat products to satisfy federal standards before distribution. The Pure food and Drug Act gave power to the Bureau of Chemistry, later renamed the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) in 1931, which conducted some early studies on food adulteration (“History of…”). The 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act was replaced with the Food, Drugs and Cosmetics Act of 1938, which gave the FDA greater authority over manufacturers (“History of…”). This stronger legislation gave the FDA power to seize, condemn, detain imports, or prohibit the manufacture or distribution of an adulterated product. Repercussions also had to be preceded by a warning letter directed to the manufacturer or distributor of the unsafe product...