Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  ) 
May,  1921.  J 
Arsenic  Found  in  Pickles. 
347 
ARSENIC  FOUND  IN  PICKLES  IS  TRACED  TO  SECOND- 
HAND CONTAINERS*  v 
*  As  a  result  of  two  investigations  recently  made  by  the  New  York 
City  Department  of  Health  which  revealed  the  presence  of  arsenic 
in  a  barrel  of  pickles  and  one  of  vinegar,  a  warning  has  been  issued 
that  all  food  dealers  storing  human  foodstuffs  in  second-hand  con- 
tainers or  vehicles  which  have  been  used  for  the  transportation, 
storage  or  sale  of  poison,  poisonous  compounds  or  materials  deleteri- 
ous to  human  health,  will  be  prosecuted  to  the  full  extent  of  the  law. 
It  was  convincingly  established  that  the  arsenic  did  not  originate  in 
the  foods  in  question,  but  these  foods  were  permeated  with  it  through 
the  use  of  second-hand  containers  which  had  previously  been  em- 
ployed for  the  storage  of  arsenic.  An  account  of  the  cases,  as  de- 
scribed in  the  official  Food  and  Drug  Bulletin  of  the  Department  of 
Health,  is  given  below : 
"Recently,  a  complaint  was  received  by  the  Bureau  of  Foods 
and  Drugs  indicating  that  several  members  of  a  family  residing  in 
the  borough  of  Manhattan  were  suffering  from  food  poisoning.  An 
inspector  of  the  Bureau  was  immediately  detailed  to  make  a  thor- 
ough investigation. 
"The  inspector  visited  the  home  of  the  parents,  and  found  that 
a  mother  and  four  children  were  suffering  from  the  ingestion  of  dill 
pickles.  Some  of  the  pickles,  which  were  still  obtainable,  were  pro- 
cured for  the  purpose  of  chemical  analysis.  It  was  learned  that  the 
pickles  had  been  purchased  from  a  pickle  manufacturer  doing  busi- 
ness in  this  city. 
"A  thorough  inspection  was  made  of  the  factory  in  question, 
and  a  comparison  made  of  the  pickles  found  therein  with  those  se- 
cured at  the  home  of  the  persons  made  ill.  A  representative  sample 
of  the  brine  solution,  and  pickles  contained  therein  was  taken  and 
submitted  to  the  Chemical  Laboratory  of  the  Department  of  Health 
for  analysis.  By  this  analysis  it  was  found  that  the  brine  and  pickles 
contained  large  amounts  of  arsenic. 
"Upon  reviewing  the  developments  of  this  investigation  it  was 
felt  that  the  arsenic  may  have  entered  the  pickles  from  fhe  brine, 
which  in  turn  had  absorbed  it  from  the  barrel.  The  pickles  were 
therefore  transferred  from  the  suspected  container  and  the  barrel 
removed  to  the  Chemical  Laboratory  of  the  Department  of  Health, 
where  it  was  scraped  and  the  incrustations  adhering  thereto  analyzed. 
The  report  of  this  analysis  showed  arsenic  in  large  quantities.  Fol- 
*From  the  Spice  Mill,  April,  1921. 
