That One Thanksgiving That Americans Were Afraid to Eat Cranberries

Anyone who has followed the development of artificial sweeteners knows the story is often the same. We go from "this is the greatest thing ever" to "this causes cancer" to "it only causes cancer in rats if they eat tons of it" to "this is not good for you for plenty of other reasons." This story isn't about artificial sweeteners, but it does evoke the confusion over food safety studies, regulations, and recommendations that swing from one extreme to another.

On November 9, 1959, the US government announced that some Pacific Northwest cranberries "may have been contaminated by a weed killer that could lead to cancer in rats." This was something the public wasn't used to hearing, as it was based on a new food safety law that has since been modified. Today, we would justify eating those cranberries by 1. reading the science studies, 2. checking where they were grown, 3. washing them, and/or 4. reminding ourselves that we only eat cranberries once a year. But in 1959, people were genuinely afraid. Cranberry producers across the country were upset because Thanksgiving sales would make or break their year. Politicians tried to assuage panic. But many Thanksgiving tables in 1959 just didn't have cranberry sauce. Read about the Great Cranberry Scare of 1959 at History.com.  -Thanks, WTM!  


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shh, don't remind people that the fda does actual useful food safety work! Or the majority of the US voting population might have to realise they chose someone who wants to hand control of it over to a conspiracy theorist who had a literal (tape) worm that ate part of his brain, and who believes in.. well, nothing that will result in the organisation being able to sanely (or in an evidence based manner) do anything at all helpful!
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