This is dedicated to Dora and Chike Akunyili.[color=#770077][/color]. I will never forget
Many of us are perplexed by the fake goods, materials and concoction people sell in the market. You may think it is a Black man's thing. Be rest assured that greed is a universal language and behavior. Continued activitism against such ills are key

I present to you the Swill Milk Sandal of 19th century New York.

According to Wikipedia, the swill milk scandal occurred in New York in the 1800s and resulted in the death of thousands of infants.
In those days, many women were looking to wean off their children to go back to work or be involved in other activities. Cow milk was seen as desirable and healthy and so demand was high especially in highly populated cities like New York.

Unfortunately, New York didn't exactly have grazing reserves to house the dairy cows. Transportation of such perishable liquid from the country to the town was also not feasible as refrigeration and pasteurization was not yet discovered.

At the same time, distilleries were having a hard time disposing of the byproducts of the grains they used for production of their alcoholic products. They decided to invest in cow milk production by feeding cows with this waste byproducts. They bought several cows and housed them in tiny metal sheds attached to their factories. The cows were fed the waste by products. Of course, the cows would not touch such waste, but ultimately ate it due to hunger and starvation. They were also made to stand in these sheds, covered with their manure.

The cows became sick with a variety of virulent diseases, with rotting teeth, falling tails and sores on their udders. They were said to produce between 5 to 25 times more milk than their rural grass fed counterparts. This was because toxic impurities from the cows and pus from the udders were passed into milk. Because the milk was watery and had a bluish tint, the unscrupulous owners mixed up the milk with rotten eggs, chalk, flour, burnt sugar and Plaster of Paris to improve taste and color and then marketed as "pure country milk".

In an editorial published at the height of the scandal, the New York Times described swill milk as a "bluish, white compound of true milk, pus and dirty water, which, on standing, deposits a yellowish, brown sediment that is manufactured in the stables attached to large distilleries by running the refuse distillery slops through the udders of dying cows and over the unwashed hands of milkers..

About 50-80% of milk produced in northeastern US was swill milk. Many low income women and even the middle class purchased this milk that was sold very cheaply. As a result, many of their infants died of uncontrollable diarrhea that baffled doctors. It was the disease age then, where many childhood infant diseases were rampant.

The New York Academy of Medicine and Frank Leslie Illustrated Newspapers did several investigations and exposes on the matter. It led to public outcry. The owners of the distillers defended themselves and at point stated that this adulterated swill milk was actually better than real milk because it contained more minerals and proteins! The local government, and politicians also colluded with these devious business men to protect their business due to the bribes they received.

Leslie’s continued activism led the New York state legislature to finally issue milk regulations in 1862. Nevertheless, issues with milk adulterants persisted until rail transport and pasteurization made it viable to get cold, pure milk into the city from rural farms. The matter was then helped further when, in 1906, Congress passed the Pure Food and Drug Act, which prevented “the manufacture, sale, or transportation of adulterated or misbranded or poisonous or deleterious foods, drugs, medicines, and liquor.”

Sources
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/swill-milk-scandal-new-york-city
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swill_milk_scandal


LESSON
Adulterated foods for gains are centuries old
Continued investigation and activism are key to eliminating societal ills
The results of silence is suffering and death to the vulnerable. Vulnerability is only a matter of time