Theodore Roosevelt’s Square Deal: Consumer protection: Pure Food and Drug Act, Meat Inspection Act (jan 1, 1901 – jan 1, 1909)

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In response to growing concerns over the poor conditions and sanitariness of stockyards and the meatpacking industry (which were sparked by muckraker Upton Sinclair’s exposé of the dismal state of the Chicago stockyards in his book The Jungle), Congress passed two regulatory laws in 1906 that focused on consumer protection. One was the Pure Food and Drug Act which prohibited the manufacture and distribution of foods and drugs that are mislabeled or adulterated/contaminated in any way. The other was the Meat Inspection Act which required that meatpacking plants be inspected every so often to ensure that they were upholding at least the minimum sanitation standards. This type of regulation demonstrated a major shift in the government’s attitudes regarding consumer protection from the Gilded Age, when industries could take advantage of consumers with little to no repercussions.

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