The Jungle is a widely misunderstood book. For one, it's fiction [1] [2] [3].
The milk scandal is interesting tho. I don't disagree that there are people/companies out there that are horrible human beings (or run by horrible human beings), but these are exceptions. There is also a market-based recourse for consumers. Lawsuits and liability is a big deterrent for example. It's also illegal to harm someone (as it should be) so jail time for the offenders is quite possible without having enormous and onerous regulations. And haven't you noticed that it's the giant companies that often push regulation? Because it raises barriers to entry for competitors. Big companies have the resources they need. Using the government to hurt your competitors is one of the oldest traditions in countries with governments big enough and powerful enough to do so.
The milk scandal is interesting tho. I don't disagree that there are people/companies out there that are horrible human beings (or run by horrible human beings), but these are exceptions. There is also a market-based recourse for consumers. Lawsuits and liability is a big deterrent for example. It's also illegal to harm someone (as it should be) so jail time for the offenders is quite possible without having enormous and onerous regulations. And haven't you noticed that it's the giant companies that often push regulation? Because it raises barriers to entry for competitors. Big companies have the resources they need. Using the government to hurt your competitors is one of the oldest traditions in countries with governments big enough and powerful enough to do so.
[1] https://www.history.com/news/7-things-you-may-not-know-about...
[2] https://www.libertariannews.org/2012/11/15/meat-packing-lies...
[3] https://www.zeroaggressionproject.org/uncategorized/upton-si...