Fatal Milk: The Formaldehyde Poisoning Scandal
A coroner's jury in Seattle finds local farmers and milkmen responsible for the death of an infant after poisonous additives are found in the dairy supply.
Seattle, Oct. 1.—Milkman Hoppe and Farmer Smith were held responsible for the death of little Carrie Constancetine by the coroner's jury. They will be arrested for selling formaldehyde-tainted milk under a state law. If further investigations implicate them in the poisoning of the baby, they will be held on the charge of murder.
“They will be arrested for selling formaldehyde milk under a state law.”
Long before modern food safety regulations like the FDA, the 'pure food' movement emerged to combat the common industrial practice of using hazardous chemicals—like formaldehyde—to mask spoilage in milk. This tragedy illustrates the raw, lethal consequences of a lack of oversight in the early 20th-century food chain.
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