22 literature, long-standing dietary laws and taboos attest to concerns about eating certain foods (3, 5). The first documented cluster of food poisoning cases occurred at the end of the 18th century in the German Kingdom of Württemberg (now the German Federal State of Baden-Württemberg) (4, 6, 7).
https://www.cdc.gov/botulism/general.html
Clostridium botulinum
From Botulism to Botox Rebecca J. Anderson, PhD
On December 14, 1895, a group of Belgian musicians in the village of Ellezelles performed at the funeral of 87-year-old Antoine Creteur (1-3). Afterwards, as was the custom, the mourners and musicians gathered for a meal at Le Rustic, a local inn (2, 3). Within a few days, 34 people in the group developed symptoms of botulism, and three of the musicians died. Ten others nearly died (2, 3). Some of those survivors experienced visual problems for 6-8 months (2).
Poisoned Sausages Humans have probably known about food poisoning as long as they have tried to preserve and store food. Although there are scanty descriptions in the ancient
The Pharmacologist • March 2023
The Napoleonic Wars had caused widespread poverty, resulting in a decline in hygienic standards for rural food production (3-6). Some people were stricken with an odd pattern of symptoms including blurry vision, drooping eyelids, slurred speech, difficulty swallowing, and severe muscle weakness (6). The symptoms were linked to the consumption of meat, especially a favorite rural dish called Saumagen, which was pork stomach stuffed with blood sausage (3). After a spike in food poisoning fatalities, government officials in the state capital of Stuttgart took action. In July 1802, they issued a warning to the public on the “harmful consumption of smoked blood sausage” (4-6). Health officials attributed the Württemberg sausage deaths to contamination with prussic acid (i.e., hydrogen cyanide) (3, 4, 6). But they also asked the medical faculty at the nearby University of Tübingen for their opinion. The professors disputed the prussic acid theory and suspected the poison was organic. Johann Heinrich Ferdinand Autenrieth, possibly the most influential Tübingen medical professor, was especially intrigued and probed deeper. He studied the medical records sent by the health officers and attending physicians, who had made detailed observations of their poisoned patients. Autenrieth then compiled and issued a list of “sausage poisoning” symptoms (gastrointestinal problems, double vision, and dilated pupils) and concluded that the sausages had not been boiled long enough (3, 4). In 1815, Autenrieth received seven case reports from JG Steinbuch, a health officer in Herrenberg, Württemberg. All of the victims had eaten a meal of liver sausage and peas, and three of them died. Steinbuch also sent Autenrieth his autopsy results on the deceased victims (3, 4). At the same time, Justinus Andreas Christian Kerner, a 29-year-old medical officer in Welzheim, Württemberg, also sent a case report of lethal food poisoning to Autenrieth, who had been his medical school professor at Tübingen. Autenrieith considered