On Jun. 30, 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt signed the Pure Food and Drug Act, and the meat inspection act into law, the first of a series of consumer protection laws enacted by the Federal Government in the twentieth century and led to the creation of the Food and Drug Administration.

Its main purpose was to ban foreign and interstate traffic in adulterated or mislabeled food and drug products, and it directed the U.S. Bureau of Chemistry to inspect products and refer offenders to prosecutors. It required that active ingredients be placed on the label of a drug’s packaging and that drugs could not fall below purity levels established by The U.S. Pharmacopeia or The National Formulary.