Apart from the first few, each chapter covers one or a handful of years, giving the author space to delve into details of Wiley’s story from his birth in 1844 to his death in 1930. Deborah Blum’s book of the same title is an account of Wiley’s life. The group of young men who volunteered for these trials – consuming ever-increasing doses and often becoming ill in the process – was dubbed the poison squad. He captured the public’s attention with his human tests on harmful additives such as borax, benzoate, formaldehyde and salicylates. Wiley (no relation to the publishing company) was a ferocious fighter for food safety. But US food manufacturers were in for a wild ride when Harvey Wiley became chief chemist for the Department of Agriculture in 1883. Industrialisation of food production not only made more goods available to more people, but also hailed a time when products were modified with, at best, non-edible ingredients – think floor sweepings in pepper – or, at worst, toxic compounds such as arsenic dyes. Instead of eating produce bought directly from farmers, foregoing ready meals and E numbers, people at the turn of the 20th century were faced with formaldehyde-laced milk, bleached flour and canned vegetables dyed with copper sulfate. Everything was better in the good old days – or was it? It turns out that we have to dismiss any nostalgic ideas we might have of our great-grandparents’ healthy lifestyle.

The Poison Squad by Deborah Blum