The World’s Safest Food 9Jungle and President Theodore Roosevelt’s own probe and his forceful
use of the “bully pulpit” was Congress cajoled into action.
In 90 , Congress passed two laws to address food safety from dif-
ferent perspectives. In one, manufacturers were to be held responsible
for ensuring that adulterants were not added to food. To make sure they
complied, products were pulled from store shelves, tested, and verified.
Violations could result in fines and possible imprisonment. The agency
in charge was the predecessor to today’s US Food and Drug Adminis-
tration (FDA).
The other new law took a different tack. Instead of putting the meat-
packing plants in charge of compliance, government inspectors were
responsible for rooting out contaminants. Their criteria: “meat and meat
food products which are unsound, unhealthful, unwholesome, or other-
wise unfit for human food.” Their leverage: if the government refused to
inspect meat, the plant could no longer operate. Already displeased with
the government’s approach, meatpacking companies secured a provision
requiring taxpayers to pay for inspection.
Having public officials inspect and approve meat for sale took com-
panies off the hook. But the outcome set up an unending battle to limit
government oversight in determining what is safe—a battle that con-
tinues to this day. The agency in charge became the USDA Food Safety
Inspection Service (FSIS).
My immersion into public food safety practices began at USDA
with a novel bovine disease that scientists called bovine spongiform
encephalopathy, which had appeared in 99 in Great Britain. Because it’s
not a name that easily rolls off the tongue, journalists had promptly
dubbed it “mad cow disease,” setting up endless satire but also height-
ened fear.
As the epidemic spread across Britain, anxiety was building on this
side of the pond as well. I was asked to lead a study addressing whether
the disease would land on American shores and, if so, where it would
first show up. To better assess the full impact and to interact with sci-
entists on the front line, a few of us traveled to England.
Observing the outbreak firsthand, I saw the public’s raw reactions to
perceived threats outside their control. Demand for beef had plummeted