USDA and the Bureau of Chemistry

America began its rise dependent on agriculture, and thus food safety and production have always been a priority to lawmakers and governmental regulators.  

President Lincoln

Charles Wetherill

Harvey W. Wiley

The origins of the Food and Drug Administration can be traced back to 1862, when Lincoln appointed chemist Charles Wetherill to head the Chemical Division in the new US Department of Agriculture which grew into the Bureau of Chemistry in 1901 under Harvey Washington Wiley, but it was not until after 1906 that it wielded much power in regulations.

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Acts Before 1906

"A law is needed which will enable the inspectors of the...Government to inspect and supervise from the hoof to the can the preparation of ...food product[s]."      -Roosevelt, 1905

Newspaper clipping from the New York Times, 1897 articulating the economic situation of the time, specifically mentioning the Tea Adulteration and Importation Act.

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