Adulteration of Tea and Coffee Act (1724)
Poets involved
What happened
The British Parliament passed the Adulteration of Tea and Coffee Act to combat the widespread practice of mixing expensive tea and coffee with cheaper leaves, sloe leaves, and other adulterants. This law was one of the first modern statutes specifically targeting food fraud, driven by both health concerns and the need to protect excise revenue. It reflected growing official concern about the integrity of the food supply in an increasingly commercialized society.
Literary impact
The 1724 Act and the scandals it addressed were satirized in Augustan literature, including works by Alexander Pope and Jonathan Swift, who mocked the greed of merchants and the gullibility of consumers. Swift's A Modest Proposal and his various pamphlets on Irish economic issues often alluded to the deceptions of the food trade. The act also marked a shift toward legal intervention in the marketplace, a theme that would become central to the social poetry of the Romantic and Victorian eras.
Source: Wikipedia
