A Chemist Finds the Cause of a Mass Poisoning Near Monroe
A sample of tainted head cheese was already decomposing when it reached the table, and bacterial poisons are blamed for making a large number of people dangerously ill.
Dr. Shaw, chemist of the Oregon Agricultural College, to whom was submitted a sample of the head cheese which made a large number of persons dangerously ill near Monroe some time ago, reports that an examination shows the cheese was in an incipient stage of decomposition when eaten. He says the sickness was probably caused by poisons developed by bacterial growth.
“The cheese was in an incipient stage of decomposition when eaten.”
Foodborne illness outbreaks still trigger urgent public-health investigations, and the basic warning—decomposing food can harbor dangerous bacteria—has not changed. In 1898, however, there was no FDA and no routine inspection system to catch such products before they reached a community table.
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