Fredrick Accum was an industrious German-English chemist who in 1820 published an internationally best-selling expose of food adulteration practices in England. A Treatise on Adulterations of Food and Culinary Poisons detailed shocking practices, named the violators, and described how foods and beverages could be tested for contamination.
Probably the best-known chemist of the early 19th century, Accum taught courses of chemistry to the public and published 20 books, including works on the chemistry of cooking, baking bread, and brewing beer.Publication of The Treatise on Adulteration proved to be the height of his public career. It alienated food producers and, faced with nuisance lawsuits, Accum fled back to Germany in 1821 where he remained the rest of life teaching chemistry in Berlin.
References:
Royal Society of Chemistry biography
Wikipedia biography
Journal of Nutrition biography
Books (full texts):
“A treatise on Adulterations of Food and Culinary Poisons”
“Culinary Chemistry”
