Upton Sinclair: A Voice For Food Safety

In 1906, Doubleday announced a novel based on reality, and centered on immigration living in the Chicago Meat Processing District. "The Jungle" was written by Utter Sinclair, a 27-year-old Baltimore-born writer, and the Socialist newspaper bought it for $ 500. The novel soon became the focus of conflict and change within the United States. The bad explanation about the condition of the slaughterhouse is well known, but only 60 pages out of 413 pages constituting the "jungle" detail the development of the meat packaging industry. Sinclair's book is meant to be a political and social commentary. The plight of workers at the turn of the century.

After Upton Sinclair announced the novel "The Jungle" in 1906, people started to recognize the problem of food safety and tried to solve them. This is a fictitious explanation of immigrant life in American industrial cities. Sinclair worked at a meat processing plant in Chicago for 9 months. This book caused public concern due to carelessness on food safety and hygiene in the meat packaging industry in Chicago. While reading the jungle, President Theodore Roosevelt requested Congress to pass pure Food and Drug Act and Federal Meat Test (FMIA) passed respectively in 1906 and 1907. These laws are the first legislation to tackle food safety issues in the United States. Misidentification and contamination are defined as being related to the reliability of food additives and labels. It also supports food preservatives used to hide unsanitary manufacturing processes such as formaldehyde and borax

In response to the general demand for food safety regulations Roosevelt also urged Congress to develop food safety regulations. Food safety regulations have been proposed since the 1890's, but the popularity of Upton Sinclair's novel "Jungle" will help to push regulation to the forefront of public opinion. For conservative House of Representatives Joseph Gurney Cannon and the allied countries of the meat processing industry, the anti-meat inspection bill was the strongest in the House of Representatives. Roosevelt and Cannon agreed to a compromise plan which will be the Meat Testing Act of 1906. Congress also passed the "pure Food and Drug Act" which was strongly endorsed by the House of Representatives and the Senate. In general, the law regulates indications of foods and medicines, inspection of livestock, essential hygiene conditions of meat processing plants.