The early regulation of figs in the United States

When the Food and Drugs Act became law in 1906, the commercial fig industry in California had just become established. Domestic figs began to compete with imported figs, especially from Turkey and Greece. Fig culture, both in the Near East and the American West, was beset by many threats, especially insect pests. The Bureau of Chemistry in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), enforcer of the 1906 law, undertook to protect consumers from spoiled figs from overseas and in interstate commerce. Simultaneously the USDA helped both domestic and Turkish growers to counter infestation. Through the State Department, sanitary controls in Smyrna were enhanced. Scientific experts from Agriculture educated American growers and packers in protective techniques. A high point of both legal actions and educational endeavors came in the late 1920s. In the 1930s, the state of California assumed the role of guiding inspection and helping dispose of substandard figs. World War II brought retrogression in fig quality, requiring a new corrective campaign by the Food and Drug Administration, successor to the Bureau of Chemistry, to prevent spoiled figs from reaching the market. By the 1950s, the need for such legal actions was rare.