Keeping it Fresh: Preservatives and The Poison Squad
More than a century ago, enterprising manufacturers added brand-new chemical preservatives into food to keep it fresh as it traveled from the farm into rapidly growing American cities. Milk no longer went rancid! Meat no longer spoiled! But some scientists wondered: could all these preservatives be doing more harm than good? It took a crusading chemist named Harvey Washington Wiley to take this the fight all the way to Washington, D.C., where he recruited a \u201cpoison squad\u201d to test their health effects\u2014and, in the process, created the nation\u2019s first law to protect against poisons in our food supply. But did he succeed? Are the preservatives we eat today safe? Listen to this episode to hear Wiley\u2019s story\u2014and learn why some of the chemicals he tested are still in our food today.\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices