Current Day Regulations Essay

"There is absolutely no question in my mind that we not only have the safest food in the world, but we have the safest food supply the nation has ever known," - Jim May

Since the start of the food industry, selling and profit of agriculture and farming, the customers have rarely seen the other side. Unless the food comes from a small farm owned by someone you know, chances are you won’t know what went into it. The history of how current day regulations came to be is long and unpleasant but nevertheless important.

In 1820 the first drug list was created by a group of physicians in order to set a standard for drugs in the United States. Forty years later in 1862, President Lincoln established the department of agriculture. In the early twentieth

century, the Biologics Control Act was passed; this act was set forth to ensure safety of vaccines and medications used to treat disease. The Food and Drug Act and Meat Inspection Act were passed in 1906 by President Roosevelt to combat mislabeled and misbranded foods, drinks, and drugs. Unsanitary conditions were uncovered in meat packing plants, not only for the workers, but also the animals being slaughtered. In The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, he describes how “there would be meat stored in great piles…water from leaky roofs would drip in, and thousands of rats would race on it” and “packers would put poisoned bread out for them; they would die, and then rats, bread and meat would go into the hopper together.” (163). Sinclair also describes how meat that had gone bad would be pickled, canned, treated with borax and glycerin, or if it was at its worst, turned into lard. These meats were sold to unknowing customers and was even eaten by the men and women that worked in the unsanitary plants.
As the need for food to be appealing increased, food coloring began to be used and hence in 1907 the first color regulations were enacted. Six of the seven colors generally regarded as safe (GRAS) that are used today: Blue no. 1, blue no. 2, green no. 3, red no. 3, yellow no. 5, and yellow no. 6. In the case U.S. v Johnson (221 U.S. 488), Johnson had labeled drugs he was shipping saying that they “cured cancer” knowing they actually didn’t and was indicted on the grounds of violating the Food and Drug Act. The court ruled in favor of Johnson stating that it was not unlawful for there to be “false therapeutic claims” on packaging, only false statements regarding the ingredients. However, one year later, the Shirley Amendment was enacted by congress which overruled the U.S. v Johnson ruling, stating it is unlawful to put misleading or false therapeutic claims. Unfortunately, the Shirley Amendment was “eliminated” in 1938 during a revision of the FDA. The first ruling on food additives, over a hundred years ago, in 1914 stated companies that had chemical additives that supposedly caused harm to humans would have to show causation, not merely correlation in order for the chemical to be prohibited from foods. In the same year The Harrison Narcotic Act required pharmacists to keep records and have customers provide documentation of any narcotics being sold and who was purchasing them. Ten years later, in 1924, 95 Barrels Alleged Apple Cider Vinegar (265 U.S. 438) was taken to court on account of misleading product labels even though theoretically the labels were correct. The labels stated the product was apple cider vinegar, and while the end product was in fact vinegar, it was made from dried apples and not apple cider which violates the Food and Drug Act since it showed misleading ingredients.

In 1927 the Bureau of Chemistry was split into two administrations—The Food, Drug and Insecticide Administration and the Bureau of Chemistry and Soils. The Food, Drug and Insecticide Administration handled regulations while the Bureau of Chemistry and Soils were the primary researchers; three years later the Food, Drug and Insecticide Administration’s name was changed to the current Food and Drug Administration. From there, in 1930 the McNary-Mapes Amendment, the “Canner’s Amendment”, allowed the quality standards of “container” items created by the FDA to be enforced. Note: these standards do not include meat or milk items. In 1933, the FDA decided to update the 1906 Food and Drug Act and two years later the Federal Register began publication. The Food and Drug Administration broadened its authority and tightened regulations after 107 people died from an unregulated “elixir of sulfanilamide” that was sold. A year later in 1938 The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDC) was passed which allowed the FDA to continue enforcing stricter regulations. Some parts to this act include: proof of product safety before being sold, getting rid of the Shirley Amendment, placing limits on potency of drugs, and allowing inspections of factories where food, drugs, or cosmetics are present.
U.S. v Dotterweich (320 U.S. 277), a landmark case in 1943, dealt with Buffalo Pharmacal Company receiving their product from the manufacturer and re-labeled it as their own before distribution. The president of the company, Dotterweich, was indicted for violating the FDC Act on account of shipping mislabeled and misleading products via interstate commerce. After a petition of certiorari, the Supreme Court evaluating the lower court ruling, the court decided that in the FDC Act when it states a “person”, it can refer to a company or institution, not just an individual. In the 1930s and 40s, penicillin was used for a wide variety of things, almost known as the “miracle” drug; since it was used so widely, the Penicillin Amendment was created to regulate the safety and effectiveness of any drug in the penicillin family and eventually spread to regulation of all antibiotics. Nearly twenty years later, the Durham-Humphrey Amendment was created in order to restrict specific drugs that could only be sold by a practitioner with a prescription. With an increase in agriculture distribution, the Miller Pesticide Act was enacted in 1954 to regulate the amount of pesticides safe to use on raw foods. The act is weighed under a cost-benefit analysis, meaning the benefits of using more is weighed against the cost from using more. In 1954 the “first large-scale radiological examination of food was carried out by FDA.” This was carried out due to the atomic blasts in Japan possibly affecting the Tuna being imported and ultimately raising alarm among U.S. citizens.
Yet another Food Additive Amendment was enacted in 1958 forcing companies with new additives to prove safety before being sold; this also ties in with the Delaney Amendment that states no additive can be used if it is proven to be a potential carcinogen. New additives being inspected can be placed under food additive safety, generally recognized as safe (GRAS), or both. For an additive to be placed in the food additive safety list, it is researched by the FDA itself, whereas for it to be under GRAS it is inspected by qualified outside sources; in 1958 the first GRAS list was created. During the 1960s the safety of certain salt additives was called into question even though it had been GRAS; after this event, the FDA started reviewing all GRAS additives.
1959—the very first recall for Americans to experience, only two weeks before Thanksgiving.

Being so close to a holiday is detrimental on its own due to the large feasts and parties, but what made it worse is the recall was for cranberries, it was known as the “Great Cranberry Scare”. Cranberries that were already out for shipment to stores showed traces of aminotriazole, an herbicide used on crop fields after crops had been harvested. Aminotriazole was found to be a carcinogen in laboratory animals and was used while the cranberries were still in the field even though that was prohibited. Through this event, American families learned that the food supply is not safe 100% all the time and it’s possible for contamination to occur. A year later, the Federal Hazardous Substance Labeling Act was established to require warnings on household chemical products. The Kefauver-Harris Drug Amendment was created in 1962 after a sleeping pill in Europe was causing birth defects in babies, this act was created to place stricter regulations on drugs and require drug companies to prove effectiveness of their product. This does however exclude the Delaney requirements, if animal feed or animal drugs show to be carcinogenic they are still able to use them only if the animals show no levels of the carcinogen when passed on to the market. The Consumer Bill of Rights was announced by Kennedy, this bill includes rights of safety, information, to choose, and be

heard.
The FDA began sanitation programs in 1969 for milk, shellfish, and food service to reduce chance of contamination, poisoning, and accidents. That same year, another GRAS additive, cyclamate, was banned initiating another review of the GRAS list. The Environmental Protection Agency was established in 1970 and began setting pesticide limits in place of the FDA. In 1977 the Saccharin Study and Labeling Act was passed to stop the FDA from restricting saccharin but making labeling for saccharin disclose potential carcinogenic effects and results on laboratory animals; this act was repealed in 1996. Regulations on tamper-resistant packaging were tightened in 1982 after cyanide was placed in Tylenol-- six years later the Food and Drug Administration Act declared the FDA part of the Department of Health and Human Services. Even though acts had been passed to require companies to label hazards and ingredients, there hadn’t been an act requiring the labeling of nutrition information until 1990, this includes terms such as low-fat or light and in 2003 the act was modified to include terms such as trans-fat; a year later the Food Allergy Labeling and Consumer Protection Act required companies to state if their product had protein from foods common to allergies (peanuts, milk, eggs, etc.). Later in 2003, the FDA was given the task to address the “obesity epidemic” and the next year “Calories Count: Report of the Obesity Working Group” was published which included key reasons and solutions.
Today, one of the main battles that exist is between companies’ use and labeling of genetically modified organisms (GMO) and the consumers. With a growing world population and already present food shortages, genetically modified food could help the problem. Pros of GMOs: resistant to spoilage, diseases, pests, etc., look more appealing due to brighter colors and larger in size, can be mass produced like any other crop, can be transported long distances, they can also be modified to have a higher amount of nutrients. To help support American’s desire to be in city settings and not close to food production, the food must be able to endure long travel times and unfortunately “naturally grown” foods are more prone to spoilage. Aside from American’s demands, some countries are dealing with starvation due to lack of food and GMOs could be a solution. Some opposers know that GMOs have their advantage but would like for the foods to be labeled, Vermont has been the only state successful thus far to require labeling. Other states, like California, are currently voting for labeling but most have been denied. Unfortunately, almost everything is GMO. The seed industry is dominated by few key players like Monsanto, even crops that a farmer grew naturally will most likely not be organic due to the seeds being GMO, or their predecessors being GMO. The GMO movement will continue on, hopefully some resolution will come soon between the industry and consumers. Companies that argue to not label these GMO products are violating the Consumer Bill of Rights (1962) which allows consumers’ “right to safety, the right to be informed, the right to choose, and the right to be heard.”
A second problem seen today, high amounts of sugar in foods. Corn, one of the highest produced crops in the U.S. makes high fructose corn syrup, which is in almost every product out there. Soft drinks, fruit drinks, cereal, processed foods, salad dressings, medicines, etc. Even though in the early 2000’s the FDA began addressing the high obesity rates, they are still at unprecedented levels ten years later. According to research, high fructose corn syrup is processed differently in our body than natural sugar with explains the correlation between the syrup and weight gain. When consumers look for healthier food, like ones that say “fat-free”, most don’t realize that the sugar in the product will turn into fat and therefore no weight loss occurs. Stricter regulations should be set on the amount of sugars in foods--technically foods with high syrup or non-natural sugar are a health hazard due to the potential diabetes and other negative health effects. The Nutritional Labeling and Education Act may be able to incorporate the labeling of high sugar content just as they label low-fat.
Since the discovery of how growth hormones affect livestock and help “enhance” their size and flavor, the agricultural industry hasn’t been the same. This leads me to the third major problem in today’s food market, food additives. Livestock are being given growth hormones and antibiotics that are very scarcely regulated by the FDA. Just like in The Jungle, the stockyards are getting away with much more than they should be. The things that are fed to livestock are transferred to the consumer, almost another form of biomagnification; this has been seen in many cases, some involving men having feminine qualities due to high amounts of estrogen in cattle. The food additives we see today are GRAS, but previous items that have been on the same list were proven harmful. Common additives: acidifiers or acidulants, adjuvants, aerating agents, alkines, anti-browning agents, anti-caking agents, anti-molding agents, anti-oxidants, anti-staling agents, binders, bleached agents, buffers, chelators, coating agents, defoaming agents, emulsifiers, fillers, fixatives, flavor enhancers, artificial flavors, food colors, etc. These are just a few food additives, surprisingly spices and seasonings are not considered a food additive even though they “affect the characteristics of food.”
The Consumer Bill of Rights, although created over 50 years ago, should be upheld in any of these matters unless the government no longer agrees that the consumers should be informed about their food, which would be unconstitutional. There are more challenges currently in the food industry that will have to be addressed and pursued in time. We have come a great way with our food regulations and some very important changes have occurred, but companies continue to push the limits exploring new food enhancers, additives, and creations so monitoring of these and regulations will continue.

“Much of our food system depends on our not knowing much about it, beyond the price disclosed by the checkout scanner; cheapness and ignorance are mutually reinforcing.” -Michael Pollan.

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