Swill Milk Scandal

In the 1850s "swill milk" was a profitable sideline for distilleries. They fed waste mash and whiskey slops to cows. The milk was whitened with plaster of Paris, thickened with starch, eggs and hued with molasses. Children showed signs of drunkenness on swill milk, and the cows were so drunk they had to be hoisted by cranes in order to be milked. It is estimated that 8000 infants died in one year from swill milk.