Lecture 2- Historical development of US food law and the concept of food

Question 1

What are the 5 main period of US food law?

Answer 1

(a) Pre-1906
(b) Pure Food and Drug Act 1906
(c) Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act
(d) New FDA struggling in the 1990s
(e) Modernizing the FDA

Question 2

What was it like Pre-1906?

Answer 2

• “the wild west”
• The Bureau of Chemistry (predecessor of the FDA) and the USDA had very little power
• the federal congress had a hands off approach (laissez-faire)

Question 3

What is the significance of the publication “the Jungle” by Upton Sinclair?

Answer 3

-aimed to push a socialist agenda but resulted in public outcry about unsanitary practices which then led to the adoption of the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act (1906)

Question 4

What were the 3 main points of the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906?

Answer 4

• misbranding
• adulteration
• distinction between drug/food

Question 5

The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 led to…

Answer 5

-increase in industrial food production, decrease in quality, concerns about safety

Question 6

The Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (1938) let to what?

Answer 6

• FDA’s increase in power

- act was amended several times for pesticide (1954), food additives (1958), and color additives (1960)

Question 7

What were FDA struggles in 1990s?

Answer 7

• Republican majority in Congress during the 1990s led to deregulation to benefit businesses
• no pre-approval procedure for dietary supplements, the FDA had to prove that it was unsafe to take it off the market
• they had guidelines rather than regulations

Question 8

What is FSMA?

Answer 8

-HACCP on steroids
-passed in 2011
strengthened the legal framework on inspections, mandatory recalls, control over imported food adulteration and misbranding
-more preventive, rather than reactive, approach