The food scandals are never-ending it seems. Or the FSSAI has suddenly woken up after consuming energy drinks (whose contents they did not analyse) and are now on a testing spree. A new can of worms has sprung open. Nestle has fallen into trouble again after a user in Coimbatore found red worms in the pack of Cerelac that he bought. Joining that bandwagon now is Mother Dairy, whose milk was found to contain traces of detergent. But all this is merely the tip of the iceberg. There have been bigger food scandals in the past that shook the world. Take a look at some of them.
Radioactive Oatmeal: In the 1950s, Quaker Oats teamed up with MIT and fed mentally ill children radioactive oatmeal, to study its effects. The parents were told that their children were receiving high nutrition food and the children were told that they were joining a science club. Both companies were later sued and the court ruled that the children’s civil rights had been violated. Surprisingly, Quaker still remains in business. Although the children suffered no lasting effects, it’s still abhorrent to think that these children were used as guinea pigs.
Beef Flavoured Fries: We Indians, with our obsession with ‘pure vegetarian’ would be shocked at this piece of news. Vegetarians who think they can still manage to grab a bite in McDonalds by simply buying a portion of fries will be surprised to know that those delicious crunchy fries are fried in pure vegetarian oil flavoured with….beef! After the scandal broke, McDonald’s claimed that it never marketed its fries and hash browns as vegetarian, but the damage had been done. As a result of the scandal, McDonald’s donated $10 million to Hindu groups and others for their labelling faux pas.
Burger King’s Horses: The stiff upper lip English people rose up in outrage when they found that their favourite beef burger was really horse meat. Now horse meat may be acceptable in some countries, but not Britain. In spite of denials, Burger King finally admitted in 2013 that it had been frying up whoppers made with horse meat. Burger King blamed its supplier – particularly a supplier in Poland – for the horse contaminated meat. It even claimed to be affronted. But the British shot this argument down saying that the company should ideally have known what is going into its beef patty.
Bradford Humbugs: A sweet tooth has never proved so deadly as in Bradford in 1858, when more than 200 people were poisoned by humbugs that had accidentally been made with arsenic. Twenty of the victims died, and the case caused a national outcry. The candymaker then, Joseph Neal used to budget by replacing sugar in his candy with a substance called daft. Nobody is sure what daft is. But one day, instead of daft, he accidentally bought arsenic, leading to the poisoning.
The Fanta Scandal: In terms of popularity, Fanta falls far short of Coca Cola and Pepsi today. But Fanta had even less popularity in the beginning. It began when Coca Cola, in America, couldn’t send its secret syrup to its German headquarters during World War II due to trade embargos. But the German HQ of Coca Cola decided to continue sales anyway and came up with a new drink using local ingredients, which they called Fanta. Post war Coca Cola smoothly just took over the reins and profits of Fanta. Naturally consumers did not like Coca Cola’s association with ‘that Nazi drink’. But today most people have forgotten about Fanta’s scandalous beginnings.
Mad Cow Disease: During the late 1980s, the British had a horrible beef scandal on their hands. Cows had been fed bone meal infected with a bovine disease strain, also known as mad cow disease. The fatal neurodegenerative disease infected humans and 166 people in the UK died having contracted a form of the disease from having eaten the infected beef. The epidemic and tainted beef caused many countries to put an outright ban on British beef.
Exploding Watermelons: In 2011 China saw its strangest food scandal ever, when the watermelons in Jiangtsu province suddenly started blowing up. The farmers of the area had been using a chemical called forchlorfenuron to boost their crops. However, they had ignored the fact that watermelons are extremely sensitive to such growth boosters. As a result, their growth became so rapid, it was literally explosive.
Glowing Meat: In 2005, Australians were alarmed by a very strange phenomenon in their fridges. The meat literally glowed in the dark. Locals panicked, suspecting radioactivity. It actually turned out to be a strain of bacteria that develops in large quantities when meat is not stored at the right temperature.
Fake Eggs: This seems almost impossible, but the Chinese, who are forever looking to cut costs actually came up with this one. A mixture of resin, starch and some coagulant was moulded into egg shape and dipped in a mixture of wax, calcium carbonate and plaster of Paris to form the outer shell. These artificial eggs are quick to manufacture, inexpensive and absolutely worthless in nutritive value.
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Spain’s Strange Olive Oil: In 1981, Spain encountered a strange, new disease. It was a lung infection that seemed to fight all known behaviour patterns of such diseases. Six hundred people died before the health officials managed to locate the cause: tainted oil. A manufacturer had sold poisonous, industrial-grade colza oil (which is about as safe for human consumption as motor oil) to street vendors, who had sold it to the public as prime olive oil.
Radioactive Beef: Ever heard of Kobe beef sliders? This fabulous cow meat comes from Japan, whose wagyu cattle gives some of the most tender and juicy meats in the world. But after the tsunami in 2011, and damage at the Fukushima Nuclear reactor, some of the radioactive contamination ended up in the beef. In the aftermath of the tsunami, the contaminated cattle went unnoticed as they were slaughtered and sold off. Once news of it came out, people became wary. Today, no one will willingly eat beef from the Fukushima area again. Those who have are probably still feeling paranoid.
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