The Federal Food Legislation of 1938 and the Food Industry

Abstract

Between the enactment of the original Federal Food and Drugs Act of I9o6' and the passage of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of I938,2 amendments to the i906 Act were few and far between. While developments in the law came slowly in that period of thirty-two years, the development of the industries affected by the statute was tremendous. The proprietary drug business had expanded beyond belief; the distribution of foodstuffs changed from a general practice of selling foods in bulk to the point where packaged foods had become the rule on shelves of retail grocers. Not only had the food and drug industries expanded and their methods changed, but the making and selling of cosmetics had become an entirely new industry. In addition to the above mentioned changes in the mechanics of distribution of these products, changes were rapid in the American economic system in the twentyseven years between the passage of the original law and the introduction of the so-called Tugwell Bill in Congress in I933. New technical developments had been attended by new methods of manufacture and distribution of food, drugs and cosmetics. New products were introduced, plant capacity increased, and competition became more difficult to control with the increase of mass production, speedy distribution and the growth of the chain store. The Department of Agriculture, and particularly the Food and Drug Administration thereof, which was charged with the enforcement of the Federal Food and Drugs Act of I906, found itself handicapped not only by the lack of adequate funds to provide for the sinews of war against illegal abuses, but by the fact that the weapon which had been given to it in i906 to prosecute that war was becoming more and more obsolete as the industries affected progressed both in the production and distribution of their products. 'For years the Food and Drug Administration hoped to remedy the legal defects and administrative difficulties inherent in the old law. It was not until the advent of increased interest in the problems of the consumer, which is so definite a part of the