FDA Turns 100Chemical & Engineering News has an article commemorating the one hundreth anniversary of the Food and Drug Administation. My favorite tidbit:

Food processing in the late-19th and early-20th centuries involved a great deal of deception. Chemicals were used to heighten color, modify flavor, soften texture, and delay spoilage according to FDA. Jars labeled strawberry jam often contained no strawberries, only glucose, red food coloring, grass seeds, and gelatin. Jars of honey were sometimes diluted with glucose. Rotten eggs were deodorized, rancid butter was revived. "Soothing syrups" for babies were often laced with morphine. "Olive oil" was sometimes made with cottonseed.

There are two things I want to know—how does one "revive" rancid butter and how do I get my hands on some of that "soothing syrup?"

Posted by Hey Paul   |   Friday, September 29, 2006