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The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 requires proper labeling of food and made it a crime to sell improperly labeled food. It led to the creation of the FDA and aimed to inform consumers about certain substances in food. The Meat Inspection Act complemented this law by regulating the meat industry.
The Pure Food and Drug Act is a federal law enacted by the United States Legislature in 1906 that mandates that anything sold or manufactured for consumption in the United States be labeled properly, informing the buyer if the items contain certain substances. The Pure Food and Drug Act also made it a crime to sell or transport food in packaging that did not meet the law’s standards. In addition to the labeling requirements, powers granted to the United States Department of Agriculture led to the creation of the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The Meat Inspection Act of 1906 is often cited along with the Pure Food and Drug Act as complementary legislation that is the root of food regulation law in the United States.
The primary goal of the Pure Food and Drug Act was to inform consumers of the existence of certain substances in foods available for general purchase. Substances specifically named in the Pure Food and Drug Act included alcohol, morphine, opium, cocaine, heroin and cannabis as it was not uncommon at the time for foods to contain such chemicals. The law did not prohibit the sale of such items. Rather, it mandated that any food sold for consumption that contained one of those chemicals be labeled as such with the amount of the chemical contained in the food.
Anyone found to be violating this law by selling or manufacturing improperly labeled food could be held criminally liable for a felony charge. The law authorized fines of up to $200 US dollars (USD) for the first offense. For any subsequent offense, the offender could be charged up to $300 (USD) and up to one year in prison at the discretion of the court. The Pure Food and Drug Act authorized US Department of Agriculture officials to collect any item for the purpose of examining the product and enforcing the law. These powers granted to the Department of Agriculture led to the creation of various departments which eventually became the FDA.
Along with the Pure Food and Drug Act, the Meat Inspection Act of 1906 formed the basis of food regulatory laws in the United States. The Meat Inspection Act was directed at the unhygienic meat industry and instituted precautionary measures to ensure that meat produced by slaughterhouses was fit for human consumption. Under this law, animals were required to pass inspection by the appropriate government agency both before and after slaughter, and standards of cleanliness for slaughterhouses were established and strictly enforced.
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