> the vast majority of people don't have the equipment nor knowledge to be able to test whether the food they just bought isn't contaminated, Back in the late

> the vast majority of people don't have the equipment nor knowledge to be able to test whether the food they just bought isn't contaminated, Back in the late 1800's and early 1900's food companies actually tried to convince people that this was the right thing, instead of, you know, just selling unadulterated food. The argument was literally "if we just put 'borax' on some sort of ingredients list people can choose for themselves." Women's magazine and cookbooks explained to house wives how to chemically check their food for contaminates (which required a lot of interesting acids) which included fun things like formaldehyde and liquified cows brains (to simulate "cream" on top of really water-downed milk). Just to be clear, this only helped the companies and in certain circles ~1850-1906 (when the pure food act was passed) is called "the great stomach ache" because people were essentially eating poisons in every meal. People are awful at understanding their own risk profiles, especially in the face of advertising.