Effie Alberta Read, from a 1913 publication.Effie Alberta Read, from a 1913 publication.
Effie Alberta Read (born about 1873 – died September 1, 1930) was an American scientist who researched food safety for the U. S. Food and Drug Administration.
While she was a graduate student at Cornell University, she was an assistant in the Histology and Embryology Department, teaching and researching under professor Simon Henry Gage; Gage's expertise in microscopy shaped Read's later work.[4]
Read's work at the U. S. Department of Agriculture's Bureau of Chemistry (the precursor to the U. S. Food and Drug Administration) focused on the detection of adulterated foods,[5] following the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906.[6] She invented a quick test, known as the Read Tea Test,[7] for detecting artificial dyes and other impurities in imported tea.[8][9] There were legal objections from tea importers, as to the accuracy of the Read Tea Test.[10][11] The importers' lawsuit was dismissed in 1914.[12]
Read also worked on testing black pepper for added materials.[13] She became the Assistant Chief of the Bureau's Microanalytical Laboratory before her retirement in 1930.[2] She was an associate member of the Medical Society of the District of Columbia from 1914,[14] and active in the Woman's Clinic Auxiliary.[15][16]
Personal life
Read died weeks after her retirement, in 1930, from ovarian cancer. She was 57 years old.[17][18]
References
^John William Leonard, Woman's Who's who of America (American Commonwealth Company 1914): 675.
^ a b"Effie Alberta Read: Pioneer in the Laboratory" U. S. Food and Drug Administration (February 2018).
^Carla Gillespie, "Women’s History Month: FDA Spotlights Food Safety Pioneer Effie Alberta Read" Food Poisoning Bulletin (March 30, 2013).
^Cornell University, The Register (1906): 301-302.
^"Government Women Who Hold Unique or Lucrative Jobs" Miami News (November 29, 1913): 7. via Newspapers.com
^"Experts Detect Fraud by the Tasting Process" Washington Herald (June 15, 1913): 29. via Newspapers.com
^"The Read Tea Test in Court" Journal of the American Asiatic Association (March 1914): 42-44.
^Lori Valigra, "Women’s Role in Reforming Food Safety" Food Quality and Safety (August 6, 2013).
^"Invents New Way for Testing Tea" Topeka State Journal (April 19, 1912): 14. via Newspapers.com
^"Struggle over Tea Test" New York Times (December 22, 1913): 11.