The 'Poison Squad' and the advent of food and drug regulation.

Complete with kitchen and dining room and backed by a government laboratory, the project was the brainchild of scientists from the Bureau of Chemistry (now the Food and Drug Administration). Chief chemist Harvey W. Wiley, M.D., considered by many to be the founding father of the FDA, spearheaded the effort to separate scientific facts on food safety from the recurrent food safety scares that had fast become the subject of growing public mistrust, inflammatory publications, and Congressional hearings. Wiley's earliest concerns stemmed from the widespread use of borax as a food preservative. And, in fact, fraud was so widespread that even products labeled "pure" were often counterfeits, such as purported "pure Vermont maple syrup" that was little more than colored and flavored Iowa corn syrup.