ABSTRACT
England is fortunate in producing very few naturally poisonous foods. Japan nearly a hundred people die every year from eating a poisonous fish, the fugu; and Cuba boasts of no less than seventy-two different species of fish which may cause death or illness. This country has seen a few outbreaks of arsenic, zinc, and copper poisoning, mostly in beer or cider, including the terrible catastrophe in 1900 which killed at least seventy people, and affected nearly ten thousand. The source of the poison is tinned food in about half the cases, and it is particularly interesting that fifteen out of the last sixteen tins of meat causing poisoning in England came from South America. Potted meat, meat pies, and other products made from scraps of meat come next on the list, but milk, ice cream, and cheese are also occasionally poisonous. Vegetables and fresh meat are much more rarely dangerous.
