Embalmed beef

The United States Army beef scandal was a political scandal caused by the widespread issuance of extremely low-quality, heavily adulterated beef products to US Army soldiers fighting in the Spanish–American War.

The contract for the meat was arranged hurriedly and at the lowest-possible price by Secretary of War Russell A. Alger from the Chicago "big three" meatpacking corporations, Morris & Co, Swift & Co, and Armour & Co. In the atmosphere of pre-regulation-era Chicago, the companies took advantage of Alger's inattention and favorable attitude to the industry (as well as the Army's immediate need for large amounts of cheap beef to provision the expeditionary forces) by further cutting corners and reducing quality on the (already heavily adulterated) product they shipped for the US contract.

As a result, most of the meat arriving in Cuba was found to be so poorly preserved, chemically adulterated, and/or spoiled that it was toxic and dangerous to consume. The meat caused an unrecorded number of illnesses and death from dysentery and food poisoning, having an especially deadly effect on the thousands already weakened by the epidemics of malaria and yellow fever which were ravaging the unprotected American troops and would eventually kill twice as many men as the bullets of the Spanish. Since yellow fever frequently causes symptoms similar to bacterial food poisoning (fever, vomiting, severe and/or bloody diarrhea), little connection was made at the time between illness and consumption of the Chicago beef.

In the months following the 1898 Spanish–American War, during a court of inquiry held to investigate problems in the U.S. Army's food quality, Commanding General Nelson A. Miles made reference to "embalmed beef." Miles, a Civil War Union Army veteran, had had many years of experience with army provisions. At the onset of the Spanish–American War, he recommended to Secretary of War Russell A. Alger that local cattle be purchased in Cuba and Puerto Rico for the Army's use, rather than using preserved or refrigerated meat that had been transported from the United States. This would have followed the Army's traditional practice of procuring fresh beef from local sources.

...
Wikipedia