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]