1900 English beer poisoning

The food safety crisis was caused by arsenic entering the supply chain through impure sugar which had been made with contaminated sulphuric acid.

Ernest Reynolds, the doctor responsible for making the connection, also noted that only one substance would cause these symptoms: arsenic.

He gathered samples for analysis from the taverns frequented by his patients, which confirmed the presence of arsenic in the beer they consumed.

This inquiry, starting in 1896 and ending in 1899, had concluded that brewing substitutes were not "deleterious materials" under the Sale of Food and Drugs Act 1875 (38 & 39 Vict.

This acid, purchased from Nicholson & Sons, was made from pyrites which contained arsenic, which remained in the final product.

In the kilning stage of malting, the barley humidity content is reduced by drying the grain with the hot vapours of a fire, usually fuelled by coke or coal.

[2][3] Such contamination was tied to an outbreak in the borough of Halifax in January and February 1902 where 13 to 14 cases of arsenic poisoning were noted, three deadly.

[1] Bostock & Co. went into liquidation, and sued Nicholson & Sons for damages, for breach of an implied condition under the Sale of Goods Act 1893.

The case was heard by Mr Justice Bruce in the High Court: the judge awarded Bostock the price of the contaminated acid and the value of their spoiled products, but no special damages for the loss of goodwill or for the damages claimed by the brewers, incurred by using the contaminated product in their sugar's manufacture.

[1] Attempts to revive the pure beer movement were nullified by the commission's report, and by the fact that arsenic was present in malted barley as well as sugar.