Yes, they got away with it. It remained legal for another 4 years, but the investigative journalism reached so many people that the public eventually won some laws:
The Board of Health exonerated the distillers, but public outcry led to the passage of the first food safety laws in the form of milk regulations in 1862.
Yes, they got away with it. It remained legal for another 4 years, but the investigative journalism reached so many people that the public eventually won some laws: