Saved by the Poison Squad

The menu at a dinner table in 1900 might have looked like this:

Juicy beef, flavored with borax and formaldehyde
Green peas, laced with copper sulfate
Pork and beans, with a soupçon of formaldehyde
Lemon ice cream infused with methyl alcohol

Bon appétit, America!

As Americans moved from farms to cities at the turn of the century, upstart corporations such as Nabisco, Heinz, and Campbell’s packaged food for the hungry masses. 

Label after label touted purity, quality, and freshness, but none listed a single ingredient. Then, in 1902, a crusading chemist named Harvey Washington Wiley created “The Poison Squad.”