Furthermore, the FDA started to prosecute companies that were selling products that contained harmful ingredients. One of the most prominent legal cases took under the Pure Food and Drug Act was the case United States v. Forty Barrels and Twenty Kegs of Coca-Cola in 1916. Wiley was concerned about the excessive amount of caffeine used on Coca-Cola products because caffeine is harmful to people. Since Coca-Cola products were widely consumed on a global basis even little children that under four years old drink Coca-Cola products, it would be more harmful to the children. In 1911, the government started this case under the Pure Food and Drug Act, and forced the Coca-Cola to remove the caffeine in the Coca-Cola formula because the government believed that the products were adulterated and misbranded which violated the Pure Food and Drug Act. After the trail, Coca-Cola won the case. Judge Sanford’s ruling was interpreted …show more content…
Therefore, because the consumer understood that Coca-Cola contained caffeine it was not an additive even though it could be injurious to one’s health” (The United States vs. Forty Barrels and Twenty Kegs of Coca-Cola, 1916).
Even though Coca-Cola company resulted in the victory of United States v. Forty Barrels and Twenty Kegs of Coca-Cola case, Coca-Cola was ordered to pay court cost of $85,000. This case had influenced the FDA to put more regulation on the substance of food and drug products such as adding caffeine to the habit forming and deleterious substances list.
The Pure Food and Drug Act also created a huge impacted on businesses in the food and drug industries. With the government intervention in the market, we could call it “public interest theory” where the government regulated and corrected the inefficiency in the market (Posner, 1976). Similarly, the Pure Food and Drug Act was a government intervention to regulate market failure in food and drug industries, and the ultimate goal was to protect public consumers. After the passage of the law, companies that manufactured adulterated or mislabeled products in an unlawful way would result in violation of the law, which would lead to a serious