Following public outrage over the Lancet reports, the British Parliament formed a Select Committee to investigate the extent of food adulteration. The committee heard testimony from chemists, doctors, and food producers, confirming that adulteration was widespread and often involved poisonous substances. Its report recommended new legislation, though it would take several years for effective laws to be passed.

The Select Committee's hearings were covered extensively in the press, providing material for satirical poets and cartoonists who lampooned the merchants and the slow pace of reform. The official recognition of the problem gave literary figures like Dickens and the Pre-Raphaelites a stamp of authority for their own critiques. The committee's work also highlighted the disconnect between the idealized pastoral imagery in poetry and the grim realities of urban food production.