<P> The original 1906 Act authorized the Secretary of Agriculture to inspect and condemn any meat product found unfit for human consumption . Unlike previous laws ordering meat inspections , which were enforced to assure European nations from banning pork trade , this law was strongly motivated to protect the American diet . All labels on any type of food had to be accurate ( although not all ingredients were provided on the label ) . Even though all harmful food was banned , many warnings were still provided on the container . The law was partly a response to the publication of Upton Sinclair 's The Jungle , an exposé of the Chicago meat packing industry , as well as to other Progressive Era muckraking publications of the day . While Sinclair 's dramatized account was intended to bring attention to the terrible working conditions in Chicago , the public was more horrified by the prospect of bad meat . </P>
<P> The original 1906 Act authorized the Secretary of Agriculture to inspect and condemn any meat product found unfit for human consumption . Unlike previous laws ordering meat inspections , which were enforced to assure European nations from banning pork trade , this law was strongly motivated to protect the American diet . All labels on any type of food had to be accurate ( although not all ingredients were provided on the label ) . Even though all harmful food was banned , many warnings were still provided on the container . The law was partly a response to the publication of Upton Sinclair 's The Jungle , an exposé of the Chicago meat packing industry , as well as to other Progressive Era muckraking publications of the day . While Sinclair 's dramatized account was intended to bring attention to the terrible working conditions in Chicago , the public was more horrified by the prospect of bad meat . </P>
who was put in charge of enforcing the meat inspection act
who was put in charge of enforcing the meat inspection act
the Secretary of Agriculture
the Secretary of Agriculture