List of food contamination incidents
Encyclopedia
Accidental contamination as well as intentional adulterations:
- 2009 Hola Pops from Mexico contaminated with lead.
- 2008 baby milk scandal with melamineMelamineMelamine is an organic base and a trimer of cyanamide, with a 1,3,5-triazine skeleton. Like cyanamide, it contains 66% nitrogen by mass and, if mixed with resins, has fire retardant properties due to its release of nitrogen gas when burned or charred, and has several other industrial uses....
from the contaminated proteinChinese protein export contaminationProtein adulteration in the People's Republic of China refers to the adulteration and contamination of several food and feed ingredients with inexpensive melamine and other compounds such as cyanuric acid, ammeline and ammelide...
working into the food chain a year later. - 2007 pet food recalls2007 pet food recallsThe 2007 pet food recalls comprise the contamination and wide recall of many brands of cat and dog foods beginning in March 2007, and the ensuing developments involving the human food supply. The recalls in North America, Europe, and South Africa came in response to reports of renal failure in pets...
which was part of the Chinese protein export contaminationChinese protein export contaminationProtein adulteration in the People's Republic of China refers to the adulteration and contamination of several food and feed ingredients with inexpensive melamine and other compounds such as cyanuric acid, ammeline and ammelide...
of using melamineMelamineMelamine is an organic base and a trimer of cyanamide, with a 1,3,5-triazine skeleton. Like cyanamide, it contains 66% nitrogen by mass and, if mixed with resins, has fire retardant properties due to its release of nitrogen gas when burned or charred, and has several other industrial uses....
as an adulterant - 1987 Beech-Nut Nutrition Corporation paid $2.2 million, then the largest fine issued, for violating the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic ActFederal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic ActThe United States Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act , is a set of laws passed by Congress in 1938 giving authority to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to oversee the safety of food, drugs, and cosmetics. A principal author of this law was Royal S. Copeland, a three-term U.S. Senator from...
by selling artificially flavored sugar water as apple juiceApple juiceApple juice is a fruit juice manufactured by the maceration and pressing of apples. The resulting expelled juice may be further treated by enzymatic and centrifugal clarification to remove the starch and pectin, which holds fine particulate in suspension, and then pasteurized for packaging in...
. John F. Lavery, the company's vice president for operations was convicted in criminal court and sentenced to a year and a day in jail; Niels L. Hoyvald, the president of the company, also convicted, served six months of community service. Each of them also paid a $100,000 fine. - 1986 adulteration of Italian wines with ethylene glycolEthylene glycolEthylene glycol is an organic compound widely used as an automotive antifreeze and a precursor to polymers. In its pure form, it is an odorless, colorless, syrupy, sweet-tasting liquid...
killed more than 18 people. - 1985 adulteration of Austrian wines with diethylene glycol1985 diethylene glycol wine scandalThe 1985 diethylene glycol wine scandal involved a limited number of Austrian wineries that had illegally adulterated their wines using the toxic substance diethylene glycol to make the wines appear sweeter and more full-bodied in the style of late harvest wines...
. - 1978 Two pensioners in Yardley, South Birmingham, UK die after eating tinned John West Salmon, contaminated with Botulism
- 1972 mercury poisoning in Iraq kills 100 to 400 as seeds treated with mercury as a fungicide that are meant for planting are used as food.
- 1858 Bradford sweets poisoningBradford sweets poisoningThe 1858 Bradford sweets poisoning was the accidental arsenic poisoning of more than 200 people in Bradford, England in 1858; an estimated 20 people died when sweets accidentally made with arsenic were sold from a market stall...
with arsenic in candy.