FATAL SOUP DRINK

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 229, 24 June 1941, Page 8

FATAL SOUP DRINK

Sodium Nitrite Causes Death CANNERY TRAGEDY

Circumstances Explained At Inquest

(By Telegraph- Press Association.) AUCKLAND, June 23 An inquest concerning the death of George Matin, or Matthews,J married, .aged 25, an employee in* the canning department of the Westfield Freezing Works, who died on his way to the Auckland hospital on the night of Mav 26. was held before the coroner Mr Hunt, S.M. Matin and three other workmen became ill after drinking some soup. ■ The other men recovered after receiving treatment' at the hospital. . • '

Detective-Sergeant Tretheway appeared for the police, Mr. A. H. Johnstone, K.C., with Mr. Ziman, represented the Westfield Freezing Company, Mr, Bone watched proceedings for the Royal Insurance Company, and Mr. Tuck appeared on behalf of deceased’s widow and the Freezing Workers’ Union. Edivard Tetai said he and deceased, his cousin, were' stirring soup in vats in the scalds department of the can iiery at the works on the night of May 26.. The men sometimes had a drink of soup’from the vats at 11 p.m On this night he filled a small tin and a larger one with soup. Two other employees took one tin. He had two mouthfuls of soup from the larger one but, as.it was too hot, put it in an air vent to cool. He subsequently saw deceased in the lunch room with this tin. Witness said, he put no salt in either tin that night, though previously he had taken salt from bags in the room for the soup. He had always thought the drum which he now knew to contain sodium nitrite also contain ed salt. Ten minutes after resuming work he felt ill. He subsequently went to hospital where he quickly recovered Men Who Were 111.

Leonard. Grundy and George Cullen said they drank soup from the smaller tin. They thought it lasted peculiar, but decided this was because beef and mutton had both been' cooked in the vat. They decided there was no need to add salt. .Both were' subsequently ill, but had. recovered by the time they reached the hospital. . Cullen said he saw deceased with the large tin in the lunch-room He advised him not to have the soup as it bad made. him and Grundy lil. Deceased picked the tin up arid smelt it, but said- nothing. Witness saw him taste the soup.

Httakaha Hetaraka described geting four bags’of salt and a tin of sodium nitrite for the scalds department in the afternoon of Maj 26. The tin used for sodium nitrite was a plain tin . with nothing written on it. He left it on top of the bags of salt.

Arthur Whiteman said he rt-as tn charge of the scalds department on the night in question. He described the treatment given deceased and the other three employees, who felt ill after drinking soup. Sodium nitrate was used as a colouring in the canning of meat, but was not used in soup-making. It would have been a simple matter for any person to have taken sodium nitrite from the tin, thinking it was salt. Except that it had a yellowish tinge, it looked like table salt. He did not think many of the men knew, it was dangerous, and lie was not aware of it himself. ■ Manager’s Evidence. The' works manager, Alan Ridley, said none of the employees had authority from the management to use soup made at the works or any salt or other food kept there.' “I was not aware that any of the employees were in the habit of using the company's soup, excepting that occasionally I 'have noticed employees eating odd pieces of meat at the stuffing tables." he continued. Soup cooked in the department was not salted and no sodium nitrite was used ;in making it-

‘lf any sodium nitrite accidentally got into the meat scalds this would be discovered when the routine analysis of the completed extract was made by the works laboratory.” he said "Such an accident would further be linmedi ately noticeable as the meat in the scal'd* would take on a red colors tlon.”

Up to the time of this particular accident. no special steps had beer, taken to see that sodium nitrite was specially labelled as dangerous. though careful precautions were always taken to see that It was handled only by those per sons who knew its proper use 'On the day of the accident, said Mi Ridley “the man who usually brou-ht up the supply <>f sodium nitrite for the night shift was .-ailed awax for a military medical examination and a man not fully accm-tonied to the work performed this duty that day and put the nitrite in the corner where salt was stored instead of puttinc it into its trmal container' Precautions Since Taken Phe practice in handling sodium nit rite at the Westfield works was the same as witness had known in ■tny • ithei -anneries in other parts of the world where he had two employed Since rhe accident special precautions had been taken and the container was non sjx’cially marked Kenneth Griffin Government analyst, said he hail found traces of sodium nitrite in the stomach and other organs of deceased The amount found was more than sufficient to have caused weath. The fatal dose of sod iiim nitrite was not known accurately, and the substance was not listed as poison Its use in the meat industry was permitted under statute. In reply to the coroner witness said there were eases on record where sodium nitrite had been mistaken for common salt.

“It is no use tny adding any rider, as a similar case is not likely wi occur again." states the coroner He returned a verdict that death was due Io poisoning by sodium nitrite which bad accidentally got into some soup deceased had taken.