#11: Fraudulent Bread
When we hear about fraud as a crime, we often imagine financial misdoings. However, there was once a time when bread fraud was so rampant that the government needed to intervene. That’s right. People were so concerned about the authenticity of their bread that bread stamps, indicating a government-approved loaf, became common.
But it turns out that those worried about eating fraudulent bread had some legitimate ground to stand on. Bread makers of the time often found ways to cut corners with their baking, one of the most common of which was to add sawdust as a filler ingredient. The official bread stamps that the government gave out indicated that a loaf was free of such ingredients.