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A food adulteration investigator's notebook, ca 1890
National Archives, Records of the Bureau of Chemistry
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Before the Pure Food and Drugs Act, factory conditions were horrific. This candy factory probably cleaned up its act for inspection in 1908.
National Archives, Records of the Food and Drug Administration
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Industrial age ketchup was often made from fermented tomato cores and skins, vinegar for flavor, and dyes to make it red.
National Archives, Records of the Food and Drug Administration
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British postcards circulated in South Africa around the time Upton Sinclair published The Jungle.
National Archives, General Records of Department of State
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A meat inspectors photo of workers branding smoked hams, 1910.
National Archives, Records of the Bureau of Animal Industry
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FDA inspectors seizing crates of contaminated frozen eggs.
National Archives, Records of the Food and Drug Administration
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After the 1906 Pure Food and Drugs Act passed, product labels advertised purity.
National Archives, Records of the Patent and Trademark Office
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The National Board of Tea Experts met annually to set standards for imported tea from 1897 to 1996.
National Archives, Records of the Food and Drug Administration
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Clarence Birdseye's 1930 patent for a method of preparing food products.
National Archives, Records of the Patent and Trademark Office