A 19th century illustration of “swill milk” being produced: a sickly cow being milked while held up by ropes.

In the 1850’s, The New York Times shed light on the the residual mash from distilleries being fed to cows and making them gravely ill. The milk from the cows was then still sold on the streets as “fresh country milk” and subsequently made people, especially children, gravely ill. After the story broke, and near the peak of the scandal, journalists staked out the home of distillery owner Bradish Johsnon at his mansion on 21st and Broadway. They observed Michael Tuomey, the main polititian in charge of repremanding the distillery owners, making late night visits to Johnson’s mansion. It is widely beleived that Tuomey successfully exonerated the distillers, but public outcry eventually led to the first food safety laws in the form of milk regulations in 1862. Read more here: Swill Mill per Wikipedia