Thousands Of Babies Lost Their Lives During The 1850s Due To Falsely Advertised Swill Milk, Which Was Produced By Feeding Dairy Cows Leftover Mash From Whiskey Distilleries

It is said that swill-fed cows produced between five and 25 times more milk than cows that grazed on grass. However, an all-swill diet was harmful to the animals.

According to Dr. Catherine McNeur’s book, Taming Manhattan: Environmental Battles in the Antebellum City, cows would refuse to eat for days when the boiling slop was introduced to them. Eventually, they became so hungry that they had no choice but to consume it.

“A diet consisting exclusively of the swill made the cows sick, led to ulcerated sores all over their bodies, and caused their tails to fall off,” McNeur wrote.

The milk they produced had an unnatural blue tint to it, so vendors would mix in stuff like chalk, eggs, flour, and Plaster-of-Paris to make the color and consistency look better. By the late 1830s, swill milk made up 50 to 80 percent of milk in the large northeastern cities of America.

A temperance reformer named Robert Harley tried to spread the word about the link between swill milk and infant mortality, but his findings were dismissed because alcohol-loving New Yorkers accused him of pushing an anti-distillery agenda.

Furthermore, wealthy distilleries had ties with officials, so they weren’t closely regulated by the government, and sick cows were hidden out of sight.

When Frank Leslie published a piece on swill milk, complete with horrifying pictures, people became angry about the quality of milk they were being sold. Thus, the Swill Milk Scandal began. Mobs gathered outside the doors of dairy facilities in protest.

Milk regulations were finally established in 1862. However, issues with adulterated milk continued until railways and pasteurization became commonplace. In 1906, Congress passed the Pure and Food Drug Act, which helped deter the manufacture and sale of potentially poisonous foods.

Today, the events that occurred during the Swill Milk Scandal are still relevant, such as the controversies regarding the labeling of organic and genetically modified foods. It showcases how manufacturers have long failed to be transparent about what goes into our food.