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Food and Drug Administration
Food and Drug Administration (FDA), agency of the Public Health Service division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is charged with protecting public health by ensuring that foods are safe and pure, cosmetics and other chemical substances harmless, and products safe, effective,...
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drugs
drugs substances used in medicine either externally or internally for curing, alleviating, or preventing a disease or deficiency. At the turn of the century only a few medically effective substances were widely used scientifically, among them ether , morphine , digitalis , diphtheria antitoxin, ...
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food adulteration
food adulteration act of intentionally debasing the quality of food offered for sale either by the admixture or substitution of inferior substances or by the removal of some valuable ingredient. The Greek and Roman classics contain allusions to wine makers and dealers who colored and flavored their...
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food additives
food additives substances added to foods by manufacturers to prevent spoilage or to enhance appearance, taste, texture, or nutritive value. By quantity, the most common food additives are flavorings, which include spices, vinegar, synthetic flavors, and, in the greatest abundance, sweeteners (e.g.,...
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food preservation
food preservation methods of preparing food so that it can be stored for future use. Because most foods remain edible for only a brief period of time, people since the earliest ages have experimented with methods for successful food preservation. Among the products of early food conservation were c...
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food poisoning
food poisoning acute illness following the eating of foods contaminated by bacteria, bacterial toxins, natural poisons, or harmful chemical substances. It was once customary to classify all such illnesses as "ptomaine poisoning," but it was later discovered that ptomaines, the products of decay...
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Office of Price Administration
Office of Price Administration (OPA), U.S. federal agency in World War II, established to prevent wartime inflation. The OPA issued (Apr., 1942) a general maximum-price regulation that made prices charged in Mar., 1942, the ceiling prices for most commodities. Ceilings were also imposed on resident...
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Agricultural Adjustment Administration
Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA), former U.S. government agency established (1933) in the Dept. of Agriculture under the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933 as part of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal program. Its purpose was to help farmers by reducing production of staple crops, t...
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United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration
United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA), organization founded (1943) during World War II to give aid to areas liberated from the Axis powers. There were finally 52 participating countries, each of which contributed funds amounting to 2% of its national income in 1943. A sum ...
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protease inhibitor
protease inhibitor , any of a class of drugs that interfere with replication of the AIDS virus ( HIV ), by blocking an enzyme (protease) necessary in the late stages of its reproduction. Clinical trials of the protease inhibitor indinavir have shown it to be especially beneficial in combination wi...
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