Modern food packaging regulations did not come from thin air: one of the parent pieces of legislation in the United Kingdom was the Adulteration Act of 1860. Previous to formal legislation on the subject, adulteration of foodstuffs — bread, coffee, tea, cheese, processed meats, alcohol — was a widespread problem. Journalistic investigator Henry Mayhew made food adulteration part of his discussion of London Labour and the London Poor, pointing out that the poor were, in fact, often the most injured by the adulteration of foodstuffs since they could only buy the cheapest supplies which were often the most falsified. In the first volume of his series, Mayhew also comments on the habits of the poorer foodsellers in terms of adding bulk-making materials to what they sold, making them a part of the full cycle of food adulteration in London.
Some adulterants were more or less harmless: watered wine, for example, or used tea leaves dried for resale. Others were quite harmful or even toxic such as the addition of alum or chalk to flour to make it whiter or random dried herbage to tea to make the genuine article stretch farther.
Of course, once the 1860 act was passed, the question became how to establish a baseline: what made for “good” flour or “good” coffee? Clearly it would be the stuff without anything extra added, but what did that look like?
This was a clear opportunity for medical professionals to step forward and inform the public and J.A. Wanklyn, member of the Royal College of Surgeons, took the opening. His Tea, Coffee, and Cocoa: a practical treatise on the analysis of tea, coffee, cocoa, chocolate, mate (Paraguay tea), etc. aims to fill the information gap, providing information for “the use of Public Analysts under the Adulteration Act.” (v)
Flip through the pages of Wanklyn’s analysis below or follow this link to read Tea, Coffee, and Cocoa.