On Nov. 9, 1959, at the instruction of Arthur S. Flemming, the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, the FDA urged that no further sales be made of cranberries and cranberry products produced in Washington and Oregon in 1958 and 1959 because of their possible contamination by a chemical weed killer, aminotriazole.

Cranberries cleared for sale during the crisis were the only FDA product ever to boast correctly of being tested and cleared “by FDA.”