b'SENSE, NONSENSE AND SCIENCEBY: JOE SCHWARCZFOOD ADULTERATION HASA LONG HISTORYG entlemenwhoventuredintophosphorus is flammable and highly toxic. man who robs a fellow subject of a few shil-Sweeney Todds barbershop inAccums clients included some wealthylings on the highway is sentenced to death, eighteenth century London got asocialites who were concerned about whatbut he who distributes a slow poison to the closer shave than they bargained for. Letsthey were eating, and the chemist confirmedwhole community escapes unpunished, just say they did not leave the establishmentmany of the fears. Pickles were found to behe declared. As one might expect, Accum the same way they entered. Mrs. Lovettsgreened with copper compounds, candiesmade many enemies in the food business pies, as the tale goes, were the beneficiar- coloured with red lead oxide, and the tastewho sought revenge. And one day, when ies of Sweeneys deft work with the razor.of vinegar sharpened with sulfuric acid.a librarian at the famed Royal Institute, While the demon barber of Fleet StreetSomething had to be done, Accum decided.where Accum had once been Sir Humphrey may have been fictional, the demon grocerSo, in 1820 he published his classic book,Davys assistant, apparently saw him tear was not. And some of the ingredients in hisA Treatise on Adulterations of Food andpages out of a book instead of taking notes, products, although not quite as distastefulCulinary Poisons, charmingly subtitledthe enemies got their chance. The matter as those in Mrs. Lovetts pies, were decid- Death in the Pot. It was the first exposwas brought to the attention of the police, edly more dangerous. A little strychnine inever written of the repulsive practicesAccum was charged with robbery and the beer. A touch of mercuric sulphide inemployed by some food producers, and thereleased on bail. Disgraced, he fled England the candy. A sprinkling of red lead in thefirst systematic attempt to raise the publicsto his native Germany and the food crimi-cayenne pepper! consciousness about the safety of the foodnals went back to adding chalk to milk and Frederick Accum didnt like this typesupply.substituting burnt carrots, scorched black of food adulteration one bit. Children wereThe chemist didnt pull any punches.peas and chicory powder for coffee. being poisoned by colorants in candies,Not only did Accum describe the abhorrentBut the foundations for a movement their mothers were being duped into buyingpractices, he named the culprits! Woe to theagainst the food adulterers had been laid. bread whitened with aluminium sulphate,merchant who coloured his confectionaryBy 1860, the first Food Adulteration Act and their fathers were drinking beer ren- with copper arsenite, extended his pow- was passed, tightening the screws on dered bitter with strychnine instead of hops.dered tea with a mix of ferric ferrocyanide,merchants who risked public health. This It was time to blow the whistle! And Accumcopper acetate and sheeps dung, or enticedwas mostly due to the work of Dr. Arthur was the man to do it. After all, he was anchildren with jams dyed with salts of lead.Hassal, a London physician, who champi-accomplished chemist who had opened upBakers who added plaster of Paris to flouroned the cause after Accum had scampered the first commercial chemistry laboratoryto increase the weight of their loaves alsoback to Germany. Hassal was the first to in London and had made quite a name forfelt Accums wrath, but it was the beer fraudshow that a simple examination under a himself offering courses to the public onartists who were particularly singled out formicroscope revealed the presence of chic-what he called practical chemistry.skewering. Adding ferrous sulphate, alumory in coffee. His appetite whetted by this In the back room of Accums shop,and salt to give beer a good cauliflowersuccess, the physician turned chemist and students learned that a black precipitatehead was common at the time. As was thelaunched into a full-scale chemical investi-formed when a solution was treated withuse of an extract of Southeast Asian fishgation of the food supply, collecting thou-hydrogen sulphide confirmed the presenceberries to impart a bitter flavour. After all,sands of samples for analysis. Like Accum, of lead and that copper as a contaminantit was cheaper than using hops. Of course,he found that adulteration was the rule, not could be detected by the tell-tale blue colourthe fact that it might kill an imbiber was ofthe exception. Spent tea leaves were reju-that resulted from the addition of ammo- no concern. Fish berries derived their namevenated by colouring them with indigo, nium hydroxide. Accum even catered tofrom their use by Southeast Asian nativesdiluted beer was flavoured with wormwood, people who preferred to experiment withto stun fish. Picrotoxin, a compound simi- and meat pies were freshened with iron chemicals at home. He produced Chestslar to curare, paralyzes the nervous system,oxide. Hassal never explored what kind of for Chemical Amusements, the forerun- making it easy to pick fish out of the water.meat went into these pies, but storage areas ners of modern chemistry sets. I suspectThese practices were of course illegal,were commonly infested with rats, some there may have been the odd client who wasbut as Accum pointed out, the law was notundoubtedly adding to the protein content less than amused, since safety was not onehard to skirt. He described how the prohib- of the product. Still, not quite as unsavoury of Accums strong points. When talkingited ingredients were stored off site, only toas Mrs. Lovetts hopefully mythical pies. about the glow-in-the-dark property of theappear in the oversize pockets of the spe- And youre worried about aspartame in your yellow phosphorus included in the Chest,cial coats worn by beer makers on brewingpop.he explained that if rubbed on the face,days. While Accum attacked food adulter-taking care to shut the eyes, the appear- ers mercilessly, he was also scornful of theJoe Schwarcz PhD is Director, McGill ance is most hideously frightful. Indeed.authorities who allowed the publics welfareUniversity Office for Science and Society, Possibly permanently frightful. Yellowto be compromised in this fashion. TheMontreal, QC, Canada.12ISEED WORLD EUROPEISEEDWORLD.COM/EUROPE | SEPTEMBER 2025'