I agree, kids worked for days without set free. Many lost limbs and fingers to moving parts in the machinery. If you got hurt they simply fired you and someone took there place. The meat industry was also unhealthy and which made Teddy Roosevelt to create the FDA.
That doesn't last long though. If people know that there are people working in deplorable conditions someone would open a competing business that would treat workers fairly. Then people would explore this new opportunity and abandon the old one. This is the beauty of a market.
Also, The FDA is a flawed department. Especially when they are allowed to test medicines at rates such as 100x their suggested doses. And then when they forget up they aren't liable.