Food “Poisoning” Due to Sodium Nicotinate: Report of an Outbreak and Review of the Literature

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Abstract
This is a report of an outbreak involving the sudden onset of intense redness and flushing of the face, neck, extremities and trunk, accompanied by a diffuse feeling of warmth and itching of the skin that occurred among 44 of 121 persons eating in a sorority house at Northwestern University. The symptoms had thier onset about 15 minutes after ingestion of food, and lasted from about 30 minutes to an hour. The symptoms were traced to the addition of excessive quantities of sodium nicotinate to the ground meat used in preparing the Swedish meat balls which were part of the menu served. Although the use of sodium nicotinate was illegal in Chicago and excessive amounts had been added (a concentration of 225mg of sodium nicotinate per 100g of the cooked meat was found), in many other cities and states the addition of smaller amounts is legal, and it is estimated that hundreds of millions of pounds of meat are treated thus annually in the United States. A breif review of the literature and summaries of 4 other published and unpublished episodes of similar food poisoning were included.