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At the turn of the 20th century,\xa012 young men sat in the basement of the Department of Agriculture, eating meals with a side of borax, salicylic acid, or formaldehyde. They were called the Poison Squad, and they were part of a government experiment to figure out whether popular food additives were safe. (Spoiler: Many weren\u2019t.) Food manufacturers weren\u2019t pleased with the findings, but one prominent ketchup maker paid attention. Influenced by these experiments, he transformed ketchup into the all-American condiment that we know and love today. Except ketchup\u2014both the sauce and the word\u2014didn't come from the United States. The story of America\u2019s favorite condiment begins in East Asia.\n\n\nHarvey Wiley (back row, third from left) and the members of The Poison Squad.\n(U.S. Food and\xa0Drug\xa0Administration)\n\n\n\n\nMembers of the Poison Squad dining in the basement of the Department of Agriculture. Harvey Wiley occasionally ate with them, to offer encouragement and support.\n(U.S. Food and Drug Administration)\xa0\n\n\n\n\nThe members of the Poison Squad came up with their own inspirational slogan, which hung on a sign outside the dining room.\n(U.S. Food and Drug Administration )\n\n\nGuest\nAlan Lee is a freelance linguist and native Hokkien speaker.\xa0\nFootnotes And Further Reading\nThe Poison Squad by Deborah Blum tells the very entertaining history of Harvey Wiley, the early days of food regulation in the United States, and, of course, the Poison Squad.\nThe Language of Food by Dan Jurafsky is a word nerd\u2019s dream, and contains more on ketchup\u2019s early history. Special thanks to Dan Jurafsky for providing background information on the early history of ketchup for this episode.\xa0\nCan't get enough ketchup history? Check out Pure Ketchup:\xa0A History of America's National Condiment With Recipes\xa0by Andrew F. Smith.\nLearn more about ketchup's early origins in Dan Jurafsky's Slate\xa0article on "The Cosmopolitan Condiment."\xa0\nCredits\nScience Diction is hosted and produced by Johanna Mayer. Our editor and producer is Elah Feder. We had additional story editing from Nathan Tobey. Our Chief Content Office is Nadja Oertelt. Fact checking by Michelle Harris, with help from Danya AbdelHameid. Daniel Peterschmidt is our composer, and they wrote our version of the \u201cSong of the Poison Squad.\u201d We had research help from Cosmo Bjorkenheim and Attabey Rodr\xedguez Ben\xedtez. Sound design and mastering by Chris Wood.