Food Safety: Its Effects on the Regulation of Agricultural Products Food-borne illnesses and diseases have always been a major problem for human health. Until the advent of the Industrial Revolution, the human population increased significantly during that time period and has been steadily increasing ever since. Food production, along with the human population, also had to be increased significantly. One of the problems of this new period was the introduction of more diseases; people were often crowded into small places, and these cities breed all kinds of different pathogens. Widespread epidemics of cholera and other foodborne illnesses were commonplace. People began to fear the food they ate and doubt the cleanliness of agricultural products. Government involvement was necessary to combat these new outbreaks. Food safety laws were then adopted to prevent widespread epidemics and ensure food quality. Food safety has had a profound impact on the regulation and production of agricultural products. The introduction of food safety in the United States can be attributed to literary works created by scandalized journalists in the early 1900s. The use of yellow journalism highlighted the horrific conditions of the meat packing industry. A great example would be the novel The Jungle, written by Upton Sinclair, which helped reveal many of the problems present in the food industry. After this pressure was put into effect, the United States government stepped in and proposed two acts: the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 and the Meat Inspection Act. The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 was part of the first food protection laws consumers enacted by the federal government in the 20th century. This last act......half of the sheet......een exposed. This includes not providing information to food manufacturers and also providing more support to health inspectors so they can do their job properly. Health inspectors are supposed to be the ones with authority in the food industry, and companies are supposed to comply with food safety regulations, but because companies don't want to lose money, they are sometimes unwilling to comply with USDA requests. On the other hand, the USDA has had some successes, such as reducing the number of foodborne illnesses in the coming year. The USDA has also managed to publicly announce food safety recommendations across the country with simple guidelines: clean, separate, cook and cool. US food safety has played an important role in the regulation and production of agricultural products and will continue to improve the cleanliness and wholesomeness of US agricultural products.