Food Adulteration A Brief History

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Food Adulteration A Brief History

• Abbas Lalljee
• www.abbaslalljee.co.uk

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Aims

• The meaning of Food Adulteration
• How serious was it?
• Some examples of adulterated foods
• How food was adulterated
• An explanation of the legislation introduced

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What is Adulteration?

• To adulterate is defined as to make impure by
  addition which thus leads to adulteration.
• In relation to food, we can take this to mean
  the addition of foreign substances, being
  contaminated by chemicals, or befouled by animal
  and human excrement

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!! Historical Note !!

• Throughout history food has been subject to
  adulteration.
• Henry VIII cherished saffron so much that he
  condemned saffron adulterers to death

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Fredrick Accums 1820 Book
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Exposé.

• The book was titled "A Treatise on Adulterations
  of Food and Culinary Poisons".
• The book included a reference to 2 Kings Chapter
  IV Verse 40. - "There is Death in the Pot", a
  reference to the fact that the food being
  consumed could not be eaten.

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Exposé.

• Other chemists took up the challenge.
• In the second half of the 19th century
  legislation in the UK established the statutory
  appointment of
• Public Analysts.

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Adulteration..

• The deliberate adulteration of food was a common
  and, until 1860, virtually unrestricted practice.
  
• For example, because of the Englishman's dislike
  for brown bread, bakers regularly whitened their
  flour with alum.
• Conditions for the processing and sale of foods
  were unsanitary.

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Adulteration..

• An 1863 report to the Privy Council stated that
  one-fifth of the meat sold came from diseased
  cattle.
• In 1860 the first pure-food act was passed, but,
  as was often the case in these early regulatory
  measures, it provided no mandatory system of
  enforcement.
• In 1872 another act was passed, this time
  considerably strengthening penalties and
  inspection procedures.

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Adulteration.

• The Sale of Foods and Drugs Act of 1875 prevented
  the addition of harmful ingredients, such as
  poisonous chemicals and dyes, to foods and drugs.
  
• The act also allowed medical officers to inspect
  foods.

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Adulteration

• Throughout most of the nineteenth century,
  Britons had little protection against unwholesome
  food and drink.
• Many tons of adulterated tea, rancid butter and
  polluted meat were sold throughout the United
  Kingdom.

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Adulteration

• At this time bacterial contamination was not
  understood.
• The chief concerns were visible gross
  contamination and decomposition.

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Foods that were Adulterated

• pepper - gravel, leaves and twigs added
• tea - exhausted tea leaves and other leaves added
  and glazed with black lead
• bread - grit, sand, ashes and mashed potato were
  added and alum used for bleaching.

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Foods that were Adulterated

• rum and beer - strychnine, cocculus inculus (both
  are hallucinogens) and copperas were added
• pickles, bottled fruit, wine, and preserves -
  sulphate of copper added
• mustard - lead chromate
• chinese tea - ferric ferrocynanide, lime
  sulphate, and turmeric

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Foods that were Adulterated

• copper carbonate, lead sulphate, bisulphate of
  mercury, and Venetian lead in sugar confectionery
  and chocolate
• Red lead gave Gloucester cheese its 'healthy' red
  hue
• flour and arrowroot a rich thickness to cream

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Food Analysis

• The London County Medical Officer discovered the
  following in samples of ice cream- cocci,
  bacilli, torulae, cotton fiber, lice, bed bugs,
  bug's legs, fleas, straw, human hair, and cat and
  dog hair.
• Such contaminated ice cream caused diphtheria,
  scarlet fever, diarrhoea, and enteric fever.

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Food Analysis..

• The Privy Council estimated in 1862 that
  one-fifth of butcher's meat in England and Wales
  came from animals which were 'considerably
  diseased' or had died of various diseases

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Food Analysis..

• As late as 1877 the Local Government Board found
  that
• Approximately a quarter of the milk contained
  excessive water or chalk,
• 10 of all the butter, 8 of the bread and 50
  of the gin had copper added to heighten the colour

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Food Analysis..

• The problem was that the adulteration
  could not be detected.
• At that time, science was based in universities
  and had never been applied to the practical
  examination of food.

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Food Analysis at University
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Food Legislation

• Clearly, food adulteration was a problem that the
  authorities had to sit up and take notice of,
  especially after the publication of Accums work.
• Legislation was introduced in 1875 to protect the
  public The Sale of Food and Drugs Act, but it
  was not always properly and consistently
  implemented.

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Food Legislation

• In the late 19th century important discoveries
  were being made in the field of bacteriology
• 1867 Pasteur's work laid the foundations of
  bacteriology
• 1885 Salmon and Theobald Smith discovered
  the organism Salmonella Cholereasius in pigs
• 1888 Gaertner isolated the organism Salmonella
  enteritidis
• 1895 Van Ermingen described Clostridium botulinum

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Food Legislation

• By the First World War 1914 - 1918, it was
  accepted that food poisoning was caused by
  contamination with bacteria. Food manufacturers,
  especially canners, followed procedures designed
  to achieve and maintain good standards of hygiene
  and safety.

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Food Legislation

• In 1938, the Food and Drugs Act made reporting
  food poisoning a legal requirement. In 1939,
  there were reports of 83 incidents of food
  poisoning in England and Wales involving 94
  people. Following the Second World War, the
  number of reports rose rapidly. In 1955 there
  were 8961 outbreaks reported involving 20,000
  people.

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Food Legislation

• In 1955, the new Food and Drugs Act made it an
  offence to sell for human consumption any food to
  which substances had been added or abstracted or
  which had been processed so as to render it
  injurious to health. After this Act the number of
  reported incidents fell to 3184 involving 7907
  people in 1964.

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Today.

• The legislation of the UK consists of Acts (the
  primary controls) and Regulations (the secondary
  controls). The main Act covering food is now the
  Food Safety Act 1990. This establishes the key
  offences that protect the public. These include
  requirements that food
• Should not be injurious to health
• Should satisfy food safety requirements
• Should be of the nature, substance and quality
  demanded by the purchaser
• Should be labelled in a way that does not
  falsely describe the food or otherwise mislead.

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Today

• The legislation makes these offences absolute
  i.e, there need be no intention to commit the
  offence. However, to counterbalance this the Food
  Safety Act also contains a defence of due
  diligence.

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Summary

• In the middle of the 19th century, food was not
  at all safe!
• Food adulteration was practised
• Living conditions were unhealthy.
• Diseases such as tuberculosis, typhoid fever,
  dysentery and cholera were spread by contaminated
  food, water and personal contact.

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Summary

• Significant Legislation in 1875
• to protect the public
• The Sale of Food and Drugs Act

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Summary

• Today we are a lot safer thanks to various
  pieces of legislation in place.
• A lot more care is taken at various stages of
  the Food Chain to ensure standards of quality are
  maintained.
• Various QA systems are in place such as
  HACCPs, BRC Standard and ISO 9000.

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Online

• This PowerPoint presentation can be found under
  the Resources section on The Food Club website
  at
• www.thefoodclub.org.uk