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Summary Of The Jungle By Upton Sinclair

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In the twentieth century, the government of the United States began taking more of an interest in the food industry. Soon after the twentieth century began, the government realized the harsh conditions in the factories and how unsanitary they were so they went from favoring big businesses to passing laws against the cruelties they did and regulating the items sold in the United States. The government’s regulation of the food industry in American history has evolved from them ignoring the problems and letting factories do what they wanted in the nineteenth century, to them having full control over the food industry in the present-day by passing laws and creating organizations such as the Meat Inspection Act, Pure Food and Drug Act, and the Food …show more content…

The NCL also worked to pass state pure food laws and in 1906 it established a permanent food committee. This committee had played an important role in securing President Theodore Roosevelt’s support for the Federal Food and Drug Act (National Consumers League). Another reason for this is Upton Sinclair’s book, The Jungle, that was published in 1906 and critiques capitalism. In this book, Sinclair wrote that socialism is the solution for the poor Americans working in factories stuck in “wage slavery”. This book also made the public more aware of the unsanitary and unsafe conditions in factories, especially the meat packing factories. For example, the main character, Jurgis Rudkus, had sprained his ankle from the poor conditions in the factory, but the factory owner refused to pay him because he couldn’t work. Then when he finally healed, the factory refused to give him his job back so he had to work at a fertilizer plant (Sinclair). The popularity of this book made people aware of the factory conditions and join together to improve the terrible conditions in the factories, get …show more content…

The Jungle most directly led to The Meat Inspection Act of 1906, which prevented misbranded and adulterated food from being sold in the United States. This law also made sure that the United States’ and imported meat and meat products were slaughtered and processed under sanitary conditions. The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 also improved the food industry by banning the degradation and mislabeling of every product entering or made in the United States. This law gave the government the power to regulate the food industry and enforce it by destroying the products violating it and imposing fines and jail sentences on those responsible for the substandard products (Smith & Williams). In response to the new laws that were passed, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was created in 1906. The FDA is a government agency that had the responsibility to protect the health of the nation from impure and unsafe drugs, food, cosmetics, and other products. The FDA did this by administering the regulation of biological products shipped within the United states and with foreign countries. The FDA must approve all drugs before they can be sold in the United States. It also inspects manufacturing facilities and it tests the products to be sold to make sure they meet the current standards and it

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