Carl L. Alsberg (April 2, 1877 – October 31, 1940) was an American chemist who served as Commissioner of Food and Drugs from 1912 to 1921.

[3] He spent three years (1900–1903) studying in Germany before taking up a position as an instructor in biological chemistry at Harvard University.

[4] After teaching at Harvard, Alsberg went to work for the U.S. government in 1908,[5] and from 1912 to 1920 served as Chief of the United States Bureau of Chemistry, which would be renamed the Food and Drug Administration.

[6] In 1921, Alsberg resigned from the Bureau of Chemistry and co-founded Stanford University's Food Research Institute.

In 1940, after visiting family in New York, Alsberg became ill with pneumonia on the train trip back to California and died in the hospital on October 31.