In another thread, AHI MPLS posted:

While searching for information on my newly acquired ( yet 13+ years old ) bottle of molasses, I discovered that 21 people were killed by molasses in Boston; in 1919.
Wish I knew how to put up a link thingy, This is a terrible disaster that I had never heard of.
I sometimes think that the internet provides TOO much info; I was just looking to see if my sweetener would kill us, and now I'm sad.
Are there any other horrible food incidents that I may stumble across? And NOT to make light of the Boston incident, but it IS about FOOD. (in the ROAD!)

 
I know of a couple of historic food disasters off the top of my head:
 
The Boston Molasses Disaster ( http://en.wikipedia.org/w...ston_Molasses_Disaster ). In January 1919, a molasses tank exploded, releasing a wave of molasses 8-15 ft high, moving at 35 mph. 19 people were killed.
 
The London Beer Flood ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Beer_Flood ): In 1814, several vats of beer ruptured, spilling more than 323,000 imperial gallons of beer, drowning 8 people.
 
What others should I know about?

Does Mrs. O'Leary's cow count?

What about when one of the Smothers Brothers fell into a vat of chocolate?

 Or The Beaver in the big bowl of steamin' soup.  

Is that where the Smothers Brothers got their name?  
 
 

Here is what Wikipedia comes up with as additional food related disasters:
 
May 2, 1878: The Washburn “A” Mill in Minneapolis was destroyed by a flour dust explosion, killing 18. The mill was rebuilt with updated technology. The explosion led to new safety standards in the milling industry.
 
September 3, 1991: The Hamlet chicken processing plant fire was an industrial fire that took place in Hamlet, NC, at the Imperial Foods chicken processing plant, after a failure in a faulty modification to a hydraulic line.  Twenty-five people were killed and 54 injured in the fire, as they were trapped behind locked fire doors. Due to a lack of inspectors, in 11 years of operation, the plant had never received a safety inspection.  Investigators thought that a single safety inspection might have revealed the problem and easily prevented the disaster.
 
February 7, 2008: The Georgia sugar refinery explosion in Port Wentworth, GA.  Thirteen people were killed and 42 injured when a dust explosion occurred at a sugar refinery owned by Imperial Sugar.

One word:
 
McRib!

Well, it's fictional (Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle") but as someone who thinks refried beans (and other Mexican dishes) are incomplete without lard, I really can't eat it without this passage running through my head:
 

"… and as for the other men, who worked in tank rooms full of steam, and in some of which there were open vats near the level of the floor, their peculiar trouble was that they fell into the vats; and when they were fished out, there was never enough of them left to be worth exhibiting—sometimes they would be overlooked for days, till all but the bones of them had gone out to the world as Durham's Pure Leaf Lard!"

They used to say on a hot summer day in Boston you could smell the molasses coming up from the old cobblestone streets in the North End (or was it the West End?).
 

Old Coke/New Coke

Something about Ireland and potatoes...

The thoughts of spider eggs  in the Bubble Yum gum back in the day must have scared someone to a disaster.

Cosmos


One word:

McRib!

LOL
 
when the mcrib first came out many moons ago, it wasn't so bad.  now, it's horrible.

Pepsi Clear.

From the not-exactly-a-food-disaster file:  A few years ago, the 311 phone line in NYC was flooded with calls from hundreds of people complaining about an overwhelming smell of maple syrup/french toast/pancakes in the air.  I smelled it a number of times myself and was sure I was off my rocker!  The city wasn't able to track down the source but assured everyone that there was no danger at all.  Great!  You have no idea what it is or where it's from, but it's safe?  Some people were concerned about an airborne germ attack.  
 
I suppose if I gotta go having french toast as my final thought wouldn't be the WORST thing ever!  Eventually it was traced to a factory in Bayonne, NJ that processes fenugreek seeds and their aroma is very similar to maple syrup.

billyboy, that's a fascinating story. Thanks for sharing it.

billyboy


From the not-exactly-a-food-disaster file:  A few years ago, the 311 phone line in NYC was flooded with calls from hundreds of people complaining about an overwhelming smell of maple syrup/french toast/pancakes in the air.  I smelled it a number of times myself and was sure I was off my rocker!  The city wasn't able to track down the source but assured everyone that there was no danger at all.  Great!  You have no idea what it is or where it's from, but it's safe?  Some people were concerned about an airborne germ attack.  

I suppose if I gotta go having french toast as my final thought wouldn't be the WORST thing ever!  Eventually it was traced to a factory in Bayonne, NJ that processes fenugreek seeds and their aroma is very similar to maple syrup.

Snif snif snif. Sorry Billy.

"The Jungle" becomes reality:
 

California man dies after fall into meat grinder

 
Monday, February 28, 2011
(02-28) 17:34 PST Hanford, Calif. (AP) --
Authorities were investigating the death Monday of a 72-year-old worker who fell into a meat-grinding machine at a processing plant . . . .
In a mishap in December, a worker caught her hand in the grinder and suffered a partial amputation . . . .
In an accident in November 2004, a worker who was cleaning a meat grinder activated it and was able to switch off the machine before getting sucked in . . . .

Source:  http://www.sfgate.com/cgi...31901S02.DTL&tsp=1