Treatise on the adulteration of food (Accum)
Tratado sobre la adulteración de alimentos (Accum)
- Date
- 1820 · confidence high
- Place
- London, United Kingdom
- Credited to
- Friedrich Accum
- Field
- Life & health
What was discovered
The German chemist Accum published analyses showing that bakers, brewers and grocers adulterated foods with lead, copper and other poisons. His book started public awareness of food fraud.
Accum was accused of stealing pages from the Royal Institution library and fled to Germany; his industrial enemies exploited the scandal.
What it led to
- the British Adulteration of Food and Drink Act (1860)
- chemical food analysis as a discipline
- later food-purity legislation (Pure Food Act, 1906)