The scene where Mr. Rhodes feeds the meat to a baby to demonstrate its safety appears to be a reference to British minister of agriculture John Gummer. In 1990, Gummer tried to calm public fears about the danger of eating beef in relation to BSE (mad cow disease) by trying to feed his daughter a burger in front of members of the media.
In 1954, Swanson became the first to produce frozen complete meals called "T.V. Dinners" and successfully market them to the American public in 1954. Although Maxson Food Systems made a similar product in 1945, as did Frozen Dinners, Inc. (later Quaker State Foods) in 1949, Swanson (not Constable Crabtree) is the one who came up with the name "T.V. Dinner" and had the greatest success.