DARK HISTORY: FOOD SAFETY LAWS

In the wake of a national diarrhea outbreak caused by a bacterial outbreak, Ninetoes delves into the history of milk and the beginning of food safety laws.

Hey there, history lovers! It is your old pal, Ninetoes, coming to you from Ninetoes HQ. Today, I am looking at the Swill Milk Scandal of the 1850s. I have coffee in my system and my thinking cap on, so let’s get to it!

First, we need to define the term swill. For this article, swill is what was leftover from distilleries after the corn was mashed. It did still hold some nutritional value, so rather than throw it away, it was fed to dairy cattle. Sounds good so far, right? Well, there was a problem…

…the milk from the cows that ate only swill turned blue. Now, to give you an idea, when we were kids in the 1970s, the big thing was mixing grape Kool-Aid with our milk (we were young, and consequently stupid, but mom figured it got milk in us so win-win), and the milk would go light blue/purple. It was like that without the sugary/grapey kick.

This was during the Antebellum period of the United States (the end of the War of 1812 to the beginning of the Civil War), and the population was growing at an accelerated pace in New York City. Safe drinking water was scarce, so the population drank milk. The question quickly became, “Who wants to drink blue milk?” Sure, we can sit back and say beggars can’t be choosers, but the bigger problem became the cost of transporting fresh milk to the market. The growing city overtook dairy pastures. Not only did New York City grow upwards, but it expanded outwards.

For the same sanitary reasons people turned to milk, they also turned to alcohol, and New York City was home to a large number of distilleries. The idea of feeding swill to cattle came from London, England. There they fed the byproduct of fermented rye, barley, and wheat to their cattle, so why not feed the byproduct of fermented corn to American cows?

As you can imagine there are several things that went against this practice.

As mentioned before, the milk had a blue hue to it. Then add to it the fact that in the 1840s, there was an expose written about the unsanitary conditions in the city dairies as well as the adulteration of the milk and extensive public health consequences. The New York Academy of Medicine established a connection between swill milk and an increase in the infant mortality rate in New York City.

In an editorial published by the New York Times at the height of the scandal described swill milk as: “that bluish, white compound of true milk, pus and dirty water, which, on standing, deposits a yellowish, brown sediment, that is manufactured in the stables attached to large distilleries by running the refuse distillery slops through the udders of dying cows and over the unwashed hands of milkers…”

Tammany Hall (a political machine/organization mired in corruption) got involved, and Alderman Michael Tuomey (aka “Butcher Mike”) defended the swill milk dairies and was put in charge of the Board of Health’s investigation. With the help of fellow Aldermen E. Harrison Reed and William Tucker the shielded the dairies and turned the hearings into a one-sided argument to keep the dairies open and make those established in the public health agencies look ridiculous. They were able to block any serious inquiries into the dairies and were able to shoot down any calls for reform. Tuomey even got a new nickname, “Swill Milk” Tuomey.

BUT…public outcry led to the passage of the first food safety laws in the form of milk regulations in 1862. A social reformist, Robert Milham Hartley, was helpful in the restoration of milk as a safe-to-drink beverage. Hartley asserted that drinking milk could help get rid of society’s “sins”: poverty and alcoholism.

Until the next time, I bid you successful research!

Darren “Ninetoes” Perdue is a book and media reviewer. When he is not reading, he is watching true crime shows, cooking for his family, or working on a plan for universal domination. If you see him on his porch, say hi. He does not bite…much.

PLEASE NOTE: The views and opinions of the staff of Memento Mori Ink do not necessarily represent those of Memento Mori Ink or Crystal Lake Publishing, nor do the views or opinions of Crystal Lake necessarily represent those of Memento Mori Ink or its staff. Thank you for understanding.