Food Preservative - Sodium nitrite - Blamed for Illness

[Guest guest]

Food Preservative Blamed for Illness

Sunday, May 19, 2002

Last updated at 7:21:02 AM PT

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

This photograph, released by the Food and Drug Administration, Saturday, May

18, 2002 in New York, shows a packet labeled " refined iodized table salt "

that was found in a Yonkers, N.Y. apartment Thursday. Sodium nitrite, a

preservative chemical that can be deadly in large quantities, was to blame

for the sudden illness of six people in the downtown Yonkers apartment, a

health official said. The packet was determined to contain 100 percent

sodium nitrite. (AP Photo/Food and Drug Administration)

YONKERS, N.Y. -- A food preservative was to blame for the sudden outbreak of

illness that triggered a chemical-contamination scare in downtown Yonkers, a

health official said.

" The food that the family digested was heavily contaminated with sodium

nitrite, " said Landrigan, spokeswoman for the Westchester County

Department of Health. " In that quantity it can be deadly. "

Six victims were taken to St. ph's Medical Center Thursday night with

severe breathing problems, bluish pallors and mental confusion. Because the

cause was not immediately known, police, firefighters, hazardous-materials

workers and anti-terrorist agents were deployed.

One victim remained in critical condition Saturday; another was in critical

but stable condition, a hospital spokeswoman said. The other victims have

been released.

Health officials said the victims, identified only as adults of Egyptian

heritage, had been at a dinner party featuring a dish that included

processed food from Egypt.

Officials narrowed their hunt for a cause Saturday to a substance, in a

packet labeled in English and Arabic, that the victims said they had

sprinkled on their meal.

" A sample from a packet labeled 'refined iodized table salt' did not contain

table salt - it was 100 percent sodium nitrite, " Landrigan said.