Keeping it Fresh: Preservatives and The Poison Squad

More than a century ago, enterprising manufacturers added brand-new
chemical preservatives into food to keep it fresh as it traveled
from the farm into rapidly growing American cities. Milk no longer
went rancid! Meat no longer spoiled! But some scientists wondered:
could all these preservatives be doing more harm than good? It took
a crusading chemist named Harvey Washington Wiley to take this the
fight all the way to Washington, D.C., where he recruited a “poison
squad” to test their health effects—and, in the process, created
the nation’s first law to protect against poisons in our food
supply. But did he succeed? Are the preservatives we eat today
safe? Listen to this episode to hear Wiley’s story—and learn why
some of the chemicals he tested are still in our food today. Learn
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